I'm more a scriptwriter. I've had some response but nothing really super concrete yet. But I came up with a good idea for a novel series that could be some fun and hopefully make a bit of money - the idea is fairly commercial and should have a lot of appeal. In a nutshell, I want to do for the action adventure story what Terry Pratchett does for the fantasy story. Not that I'm saying I'm anywhere near as good as him, but he offers a good template and starting point, which I'm building around a Hero's Journey structure.
The trouble is I really struggle to write coherent prose. It looks like crap. At least with a script there's a framework that the story has to fit around, and the trick is to make it work well within that framework. With a novel, I don't have the framework, so I struggle. You think it'd be great with no restrictions, but i find it to be the opposite.
So I was having real trouble. Then I thought about all the writing I did when I was a teen and didn't have a typewriter of PC (backstory: I did write stories then, mostly a SF adventure series, but they were juvenile in several meanings of the word, though the hours and days they took must have instilled some discipline), so I bought a writing pad, which I can throw away later. As soon as I started in on the story... it began to flow. It's not perfect, but suddenly it works. which is a great relief. Later, I'll copy it into Word, redrafting it along the way, and then after it's all done, I'll have something to edit, which is the main thing. So there you have it, for a technical guy, I have to use old school methods to get it to work.
I also have a historical novel I've been working on for 15 years on and off, set in the time of Greek mythology, reinterpreting the myths as real events that have been exaggerated.
) - why not try the fan fiction forum monthly challenges. Because the deadline's a month, the commitment is therefore that much less, and it doesn't have the same pressure of trying to create a fully-formed novel or short story.
