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I just finished a short story that I thought turned out really well, but the question of "city-specific" references kept coming up. Since I live in nyc I thought they'd be nice touches, but won't this kind of pigeonhole me down the line? (IE remaining consistent with the level of specificity, even if the characters need to go somewhere/do something I don't know a lot about)
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Jan 7, 2013 04:57
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Can we talk about stageplays in this thread too? Or is it only for prose?
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May 7, 2013 02:19
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So I haven't posted in this forum for about 8-9 months now, because I've actually been writing my own first novel and have just finished at around 103,000 words. I've also been putting together a sort of editing bible on the side; precedent images, editing guidelines, character synopses, system explanations so things are consistent, etc. Is this something that other people have done too? It seemed like a good idea, especially for a fantasy novel.
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Aug 6, 2015 13:38
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How do you guys deal with the overwhelming urge to keep adding whatever new dumb poo poo you think sounds cool to your longer works when you go back to edit?
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Sep 26, 2015 00:40
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I know people have posted huge do's and don'ts lists for Sci-Fi and fantasy in here before, and they were great (and very much appreciated), but has anyone come across anything similar for urban fantasy specifically?
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Sep 27, 2015 19:04
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HIJK posted:One good rule of thumb: if Laurell K Hamilton thought it was a good idea, don't do it! I couldn't remember who that was offhand, and upon googling her name the first thing that comes up is a picture of her in a fedora. Good advice!
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Sep 27, 2015 19:52
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Tyrannosaurus posted:For the record, I would be interested in reading people's actual methods. 1. Go to Starbucks 2. Write
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Sep 30, 2015 12:46
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I'm kind of curious of whether anyone ever had a friend read something and just tell them it was terrible. A good friend read through the second draft of my book and said it was really good in essence, but needed to be improved in a few areas. That's fine, I love getting feedback. But I'm wondering if anyone's just been like, this is poo poo.
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Oct 1, 2015 01:25
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Overwined posted:The only reason you should feel bad about this is because it should be you that's reading it saying, "this is poo poo". I thought that was implied.
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Oct 1, 2015 01:32
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Mapping story beats to your word count seems counter-intuitive. I was obsessing over whether it would be long enough, or too long, but the best advice I've ever received is to just write and not care about the word count. Act structure and sections of the book sure, but not the word count. That's what editing's for, and I ended up at a square 100k words anyways.
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Oct 8, 2015 03:14
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Quick question, how have people found agents to submit manuscripts too? I've seen the Twitter prompt list, which is great, but I don't think the stickied thread had a lot of info in it. I have a bunch of friends in the industry I'm going to ask for recommendations, but how have you guys gone about it?
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Oct 11, 2015 14:51
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Defenestration posted:I searched "multigenerational" as that's my novel. 0 results. "It's like Cutting for Stone, but in space!" (Try another relevant category and narrow it down from there?)
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Oct 13, 2015 01:51
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I'm working on a new draft of my novel and want to send out letters before the end of the year, but none of my publishing friends have the time to read my manuscript. If I want feedback from people, should I make a thread with a google docs link? Would people even bother reading and commenting on a 100,000 word wip book?
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Oct 29, 2015 17:51
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Cpt. Mahatma Gandhi posted:Is there any reason your non-publishing friends can't read it? 100,000 words is a huge as for strangers on the internet unless you're willing to pay them. They're all being super slow about it, or they're too busy. And yeah, I figured as much which is why I asked.
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Oct 29, 2015 17:59
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Bobby Deluxe posted:100k is a lot to ask without even promising pay once it does come out. Sorry, new draft = "third draft". I've already gone through a bunch of revisions and it's almost done, but I haven't gotten much feedback from other people, is my concern. Posting the first 3 chapters for critique sounds like a better idea honestly. change my name fucked around with this message at 02:06 on Oct 30, 2015 |
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Oct 30, 2015 01:28
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This poo poo has been going on ever since Virgil wrote the Aeneid. [/quote] Joseph Campbell taught me that everyone is just plagarizing the bible, anyways.
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Nov 5, 2015 18:45
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"Just sit down and write the book, dummy." -Albert Einstein
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Dec 4, 2015 16:22
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Help does anyone have any advice about taking the paring knife to your book I feel like 100k words is too long to query for a first time author
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Dec 6, 2015 20:10
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General Battuta posted:100k is perfectly reasonable for a first time author, especially in fantasy. Eh, I've heard responses ranging from "that's fine" to "pushing it", but I figure if I've ended up at 100k, I should be trimming it down as I edit? Of course a first draft is going to be more bloated than something I've gone over a few times. It's just not getting trimmed as much as I was expecting.
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Dec 6, 2015 21:49
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Going back to trimming: just rereading the earlier chapters there's a lot of "tell, don't show", which goes hand in hand with repetition anyways. Something like, "They leaned in close to avoid being overheard". The second part of that sentence is totally unnecessary. I've only cut out 200 something words over 5 chapters, but bloat is bloat.
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Dec 10, 2015 16:20
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Chairchucker posted:The fantasy genre contains fantastical elements such as magic and dragons, and young adult is specifically aimed at young adults, hope that answers your query. Wait, I've been watching Game of Thrones with my kids this whole time!
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Dec 16, 2015 04:10
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Hi I am now in the "researching agents" portion of this whole thing and it's actually pretty fun. Kind of like tracking down leads. (Except for the part where I see that my friends already follow the agents I'm interested in on Twitter, and now I have to harangue them for help) change my name fucked around with this message at 18:21 on Dec 27, 2015 |
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Dec 27, 2015 18:06
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Is there a thread for getting feedback on query letters?
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Jan 27, 2016 17:52
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Oh man, I thought about the Tripod Trilogy today actually. Thinking back to the really implausible scifi books you read as a kid after reading hard scifi is weird, even if that series at least tried to keep things realistic.
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Jan 29, 2016 02:52
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General Battuta posted:I've thrown out 550,000 words on this book My book is 7 books!
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Feb 11, 2016 18:33
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Hey, so, now that I've finished up my grad school application I've swung back around to editing my book. I'm going back and pruning a lot of purple prose, but in the meantime, could I get some help with my query letter? I've been reading a lot of the queryshark site, but feedback would still be great, even if this is just a terrible first draft. https://docs.google.com/document/d/1bGKIuyBd7Bgg1vZ5iBTUIF1wTGInkCp-XISa321EiLg/pub
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Feb 22, 2016 00:21
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It is supposed to be "even", because originally the line was "even in a city full of magic and opportunity". I think I'll change it back to that though, since it doesn't even make sense without later context. And born to die was my just my poor attempt at a noir-ish opening hook that leads into the next sentence, where it's revealed that she'll die young. I might go back tonight and take a second crack at it (and hopefully make things clearer).
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Feb 23, 2016 13:43
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Okay, back. I had to catch up with some other things first, but here's my crack at a second draft. Not sure why I was so coy with plot details the first time. https://docs.google.com/document/d/1VsofgbUfijJLWIsSXYZ9pdHG9CTFSvOP1MERTVLRvlM/pub
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Feb 27, 2016 01:24
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Yeah that's not right. Changed.
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Feb 28, 2016 03:59
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I should probably go back and explain or hint at it in the query, but in the book it's explicit that she's not a good writer. She works for a Vice knockoff and can't get any of her independent work published. Also I updated it to say "journalist" instead of writer because yeah, that makes more sense. change my name fucked around with this message at 16:22 on Feb 28, 2016 |
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Feb 28, 2016 16:02
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Okay, third time's a charm I guess. https://docs.google.com/document/d/1PzB4xWjZZgBDvCCdR2rgDLx44ng5dqWEOSwHCreN5TE/pub The only problem (besides the fact that I keep making GBS threads this thread up) is that I don't want to make it any longer. I know the whole point is to be succinct and convincing...
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Feb 29, 2016 05:09
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Screaming Idiot posted:That sounds like the sort of story that would just go on and on forever. I got to the end and threw it in the loving bookstore clerk's face and asked for my money back. Neverending my rear end. Also thanks for all of the feedback and super long PMs everyone. I'm gonna go ahead and put together a final draft based on what everyone's mentioned.
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Mar 2, 2016 01:22
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Stuporstar posted:All I can remember (I was 10 or so, so it's been a while) is the kid turned out to be such an unpleasant little fuckhead when he got teleported into the world, I couldn't stomach reading about him any longer, put down the book, and never touched it again. A technically neverending story!
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Mar 2, 2016 06:27
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What's the consensus on submitting to an agent vs. publishing house slush pile? I've heard that the second is slightly easier to get published through, but that you really want an agent to push for you + make sure you're getting more money.
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Mar 5, 2016 16:47
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HIJK posted:Are there any other podcasts like Writing Excuses? I'm not too concernes about genre but anything about writing or publishind or editing would be cool. The book riot podcast is good for publishing news/seeing what's going on in the industry, but it's not about *getting published*.
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Mar 5, 2016 23:03
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Megazver posted:http://www.tobiasbuckell.com/2005/02/07/how-much-does-a-science-fiction-or-fantasy-writer-make/ Gotcha. So it's not really worth it.
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Mar 6, 2016 00:18
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crabrock posted:if every sentence isn't literally a new character i throw the book in the garbage. i have read 0 books Didn't expect to see a James Patterson fan on here
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Mar 21, 2016 00:45
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I've said it before and I'll say it again, if you're serious about writing your book or whatever, force yourself to spend an hour or two in Starbucks/library/wherever a few times a week. Getting out of the house and into an environment where you can't watch youtube or play a game will do wonders for your productivity.
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Mar 22, 2016 03:24
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FYAD jokes aside, has anyone in this thread written YA before?
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Mar 24, 2016 01:26
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I was more interested in doing a YA sci-fi (like Armada, but good) but sure, I'd be willing to hear what you think.
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Mar 26, 2016 16:34
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