Any writers here?

[usmccharles]

I have been writing all my life as something I enjoy, a hobby, just on the side and never intended to go further with it.  Lately I have been thinking about trying to take another step and I was just curious if anyone on here has written anything or has had something published.  I'm sure some on here have blogs (I don't), or free-lance for some companies, so just looking to hear some personal experience

[ravensdfan]

On 2/11/2016 at 9:45 AM, usmccharles said:

I have been writing all my life as something I enjoy, a hobby, just on the side and never intended to go further with it.  Lately I have been thinking about trying to take another step and I was just curious if anyone on here has written anything or has had something published.  I'm sure some on here have blogs (I don't), or free-lance for some companies, so just looking to hear some personal experience

Wish I had seen this sooner but the new format is making finding things difficult for me.

I've had one YA book published. Did decent but not on the NY Best Seller list or anything lol Currently working on the first novel in a trilogy. Was an editor for a long time until the company disolved. Yes I still work the day job.

I have books that bring in a quite decent secondary income that are self-published for the online pubs. This is pretty easy to do if you just want to get your feet wet. Putting a book out there for Kindle, etc is free. I would only caution that you get a good editor (or a friend with experience in that area) before publishing. Though I've done it, self-editing is very difficult and nothing will kill your online reputation faster than a poorly edited book online.

If you are interested in going the traditional route, you would need an agent. This means a proposal done and at least the first five chapters written and edited to send out. Agents have ins at the traditional publishing companies and it is much easier to break in that way. This is something I am considering with the current project but have not yet made up my mind.

[usmccharles]

1 hour ago, ravensdfan said:

Wish I had seen this sooner but the new format is making finding things difficult for me.

I've had one YA book published. Did decent but not on the NY Best Seller list or anything lol Currently working on the first novel in a trilogy. Was an editor for a long time until the company disolved. Yes I still work the day job.

I have books that bring in a quite decent secondary income that are self-published for the online pubs. This is pretty easy to do if you just want to get your feet wet. Putting a book out there for Kindle, etc is free. I would only caution that you get a good editor (or a friend with experience in that area) before publishing. Though I've done it, self-editing is very difficult and nothing will kill your online reputation faster than a poorly edited book online.

If you are interested in going the traditional route, you would need an agent. This means a proposal done and at least the first five chapters written and edited to send out. Agents have ins at the traditional publishing companies and it is much easier to break in that way. This is something I am considering with the current project but have not yet made up my mind.

Didn't think anyone was ever going to reply, this new format is a dumpster fire. 

Congrats on your success on your writing, PM me some of the titles if you don't mind.  I never had any type of formal training on how to write a novel, story, etc...so im having difficulties on where to begin.  Did you just do a massive outline Ie beginning middle end? Chapter outline? did you just write about all the characters on the side? did you determine the end of your book before hand?  I love to write but I never did it for someone else to read, so putting down in a story to be coherent to someone else might be more difficult than I thought.  As you can see im all over the place, almost don't even know what to ask.

 

[ravensdfan]

7 hours ago, usmccharles said:

Didn't think anyone was ever going to reply, this new format is a dumpster fire. 

Congrats on your success on your writing, PM me some of the titles if you don't mind.  I never had any type of formal training on how to write a novel, story, etc...so im having difficulties on where to begin.  Did you just do a massive outline Ie beginning middle end? Chapter outline? did you just write about all the characters on the side? did you determine the end of your book before hand?  I love to write but I never did it for someone else to read, so putting down in a story to be coherent to someone else might be more difficult than I thought.  As you can see im all over the place, almost don't even know what to ask.

 

Everyone writes differently. I have a writer friend who likes to do the whole outline, define all his characters, plot and ending before he puts down a single word. Myself, I get an idea and go with it. I have a general idea of where the story is going, but sometimes my characters have their own ideas lol

I get the story down and don't worry too much on character development and dialogue for the first draft. Then I do a reading for characters only - do I know these people? Most important, do I care about what happens to these people? You'll know because as a writer you will be able to picture that character in your mind and love or hate them, depending on who they are in your story. If you aren't invested in them like that, you can't expect a reader to be invested in their lives.

Then comes the dialogue. Keep your dialogue natural, have the conversations in your mind (or out loud if you can) and make sure they sound like 2 people would talk in the real world. This is the only instance where grammar goes out the window.

Your method will depend on what works best for yourself. There isn't a right or wrong.

As for characters and editing, I keep a file open to jot down things that need changed, things I need to keep track of for continuity, things unique about my character, etc so I can go back and add them in later on.