Anyone else writing a book?

[Goliath]

I finished my book today: C A Melopard, The Black and Tans: British Police and Auxiliaries in Ireland, 1920-21.

The manuscript is about five hundred pages and a thousand footnotes long, and will hopefully be coming to fine academic bookstores everywhere in--oh, about a year or so.

Tomorrow, I send off a proposal to Oxford University Press. My external supervisor recommended them, and since he's part of their editorial board, I figure he should know. It's a pretty sexy topic, for a work of academic history, and I might as well start at the top.

But tonight, I celebrate. I plan to order pizza and have two--hell, maybe even three beers! Let the good times roll!

Anyone else writing a book at present? How's it going?

 

[trampledamage]

That's a book I would like to read. Let me know when it's published.

 

[Goliath]

Will do.

 

[Amaris]

^ Ditto.

Yes, I'm writing a science fiction novel. I'm about what will become four chapters along.
I've been working on it for months. When it's ready I don't even know where to start to try and get it published. I have considered a private self publishing company like Lulu, who seems to have a decent track record.

J.

 

[Ashu]

Will do.

yeah, you may as well let us all know when it comes out And seeing as we may meet up, how about a signed copy?

As for actually writing a novel myself, I've yet do so. It's always been something I've been interested in doing but either I'm too busy or my creativity is shot.

 

[All Seeing Eye]

I'd love to write a book but sadly my punctuation and grammar suffers.

 

[SeerSGB]

I've got a couple projects going: 1 sci-fi, a psych thriller, and a one just a basic dramatic fiction. Blocking out a steampunk novel as well.

 

[Goliath]

Will do.

yeah, you may as well let us all know when it comes out And seeing as we may meet up, how about a signed copy?

Not a problem.

I once met one of my favourite historians, and all I could find for him to sign was a crappy popular military-history magazine.

Well, okay, it was MHQ, so it wasn't that crappy. But still...

Damn, this beer tastes good.

 

[cultcross]

That's a book I would like to read. Let me know when it's published.

Ditto, a subject of some personal interest and an area of it I remain woefully ignorant on, I'd love to read it. Make sure you post when it's available!

To answer your question, I don't think my talents stretch beyond Angel fanfiction really

 

[Goji]

I wrote one novel during high school, and finished it my first semester of college. After that I spent several years planning my second, a continuation of my first. Now I'm more than halfway done with it, and have begun preliminary planning on two more (one related to my first two, the other not in the least). I currently have enough ideas for novels to keep me writing (in my spare time) for a number of years to come.

I've talked to some agents about publishing it. So far they've been referrals, and they both said the same thing. My book is "interesting and well written" but not something that they handle (neither one, it turns out, works with science fiction authors as a rule). They encouraged me to seek out agents who do specialize in, or at least are familiar with, science fiction. And I probably will do so in the near future.

 

[cultcross]

I've talked to some agents about publishing it. So far they've been referrals, and they both said the same thing. My book is "interesting and well written" but not something that they handle (neither one, it turns out, works with science fiction authors as a rule). They encouraged me to seek out agents who do specialize in, or at least are familiar with, science fiction. And I probably will do so in the near future.

I've always fancied writing a novel, and I immodestly think I have the creative writing skills to achieve it if I had an idea that thrilled me enough to take forward. But this reminds me of my crucial problem - having been raised on science fiction and fantasy, the real world bores me. If I wrote something, it would have to have at least some fantastical element and this almost always drops your potential audience immediately. (JK Rowling would obviously disagree, but I think HP can be considered something of a special case.)

 

[Goliath]

Nice to see all these novelists here--especially of the 'punk variety.

I've always wanted to write a novel. But I'm pretty sure I never will.

Good thing I became an historian. It requires only half the imagination.

 

[Mr Light]

Three years ago I wrote an epic fantasy novel... then the first third of the sequel... then the first third of a SF novel. Then I got out of it and haven't written since, though I'm still querying publishers for the finished book. Hopefully I'll get back into writing someday now that I have a job again (being unemployed killed my motivation).

 

[Ruaidhri]

I've had a sudden upsurge in my creativity since the fall. It's amazing what a little emotional purgative can do to unblock one's creative tendencies.

I have tried to write novels in the past--fantasy and SF--and found myself lacking the discipline to carry it through. The other problem I had, one which I have since had an epiphany about, is that I realized I wasn't writing to my strengths, both stylistically and topically. I've been knocking out the cobwebs for a few months now, and have been working primarily on short stories. I have a friend who has managed to publish 4 or 5 shorts in the last year, and have been getting some helpful guidance (and feedback) from him. To get your foot in the door in the fiction world it seems like sometimes it's necessary to write what the market is looking for rather than what appeals to you. That's the impression I get, at the least.

I've been churning out shorts in multiple genres, have a nearly completed novelette on which I'm doing a last re-write, and have a pair of novel ideas that I'm doing outlines for as a prelude to writing them. My intention at the end of the summer is to start going crazy doing submissions with the shorts and then start one of the novels. Knowing my lack of follow-through has been an issue in the past, I'm going to set myself daily word-count goals so I don't get lazy.

I hesitated to post this lest I make myself look foolish in the event of failure, but then I realized that it'll give me more motivation to make sure I get to start a "I'm getting something published" thread!

And hey, the cure for poor grammar and punctuation is a good editor!

 

[Goliath]

IKnowing my lack of follow-through has been an issue in the past, I'm going to set myself daily word-count goals so I don't get lazy.

"Writing is the art of connecting the seat of the pants to the seat of the chair."

--David Goodis

 

[BrotherBenny]

I'm a prologue and two chapters into a alternative-history historical thriller, and have to write chapter three tomorrow as I haven't done it the last two days. I'll need to start hitting the books for research fairly soon in order for me to continue writing, but I can write all the present-day chapters and then go back to fill in the historical ones if I'm feeling lazy.

My fiancée gets the chapters when I'm done and does a pretty good editing job on them, meaning that I have got to get less sloppy so she's got nothing to pick apart. My outline is in my head and my character bible is in there too, I really should write more down or I'm going to lose my own continuity.

I wrote a crime novel in college, 94,000 words, but it never got published, though I did try. I think, and my fiancée agrees, that this one could be a best seller. I have at least two more novels with the same characters/groups involved planned, but I need to get the stories outlined, though it will depend on what the ending is to this one.

 

[cultcross]

I wrote a crime novel in college, 94,000 words, but it never got published, though I did try. I think, and my fiancée agrees, that this one could be a best seller. I have at least two more novels with the same characters/groups involved planned, but I need to get the stories outlined, though it will depend on what the ending is to this one.

If I didn't go down a sci-fi/fantasy route, crime would be my obvious next course - after all, they tell you to write what you know (I fight it, thank you, not do it ). My only concern there is my mind can't look at the 'crime and true crime' section in Borders and fathom a single 'crime' idea that hasn't been done a dozen times before.

 

[Finn]

I've always thought about it and tried many times. But I couldn't ever get past the first chapter. I'm always unsure of the plot or the way I started it. Also my style can be a bit dry for most people.

 

[trekkiebaggio]

I'm working on getting my book published at the moment, and I have like 25+ ideas that are all in various stages of completion.

 

[Nerys Ghemor]

I was working on a fantasy novel for awhile--that's on hold, however, since I need to do a serious re-imagining and re-plotting on it.

Right now, my fanfic is getting the main focus, as I seem to have really found my writing voice while doing so. AND I even have a novel (The Thirteenth Order) where I feel confident that I have a plot that'll allow me to finish!

(For those of you who are interested, check out www.adastrafanfic.com and look me up. I write the Star Trek: Sigils and Unions and its subseries, Catacombs of Oralius.)