The 'Write' Road For Me [Progress Thread]

[Invictus]

Whew! I've had quite a spell of silence since my intro thread a few weeks back. Had to wrap up a particularly intense few weeks of college (involving essays, tests I had not covered the material for, and a quite a bit of sleep deprivation). I wasn't completely off of the site though, as I was lurking just about every day and taking in what I could.


This will be a progress thread for my venture into the wonderful (and ever so slightly saturated) world of self-publishing! I've wanted to be a writer since I was young, so I'll be hitting the massive market that is the fiction world. Genre fiction to be exact, none of that purple-prose, existential crisis literary fiction. As an English major, I have enough of that in my classes.

I've done some research and I believe I've found a nice niche to work with. It's got quite a lot of books, but also such a large pool of readers that it may as well be an ocean. These readers go through a number of books as well, so I should be able to hustle and get some sales. It is of course feasible that there's too many books and I'll simply be drowned out, but at worst I'll have gained some great writing experience and I get the ability to say "I wrote a damn book!" which elevates me above a number of wannabe authors.

Theoretically, I could have spent a lot more time doing research, but I worried that if I did I would simply use that to justify not writing and putting off real action. Instead, we're gonna take the research we've done and give it a go! Who knows, we might get a hit.

Sadly, I am not the best writer in the world, but I do think that I'm better than the average monkey at a typewriter. Hell, being sub-par didn't stop a few shall-not-be-named bestsellers featuring terribly written sex.

I've cranked out a 2,000 word rough outline and another thousand words warming up the characters. It's time to break into the actual meat of the writing. I'm not a plotter by nature, but this book will get its own whiteboard, notes, and other organizational tools. I can't run the risk of getting halfway through and getting a block.

A major advantage I think I have is that I'm not scared of marketing. A lot of authors in fiction consider marketing a dirty word, believing that art should stand on its own. Unfortunately, I have expensive dreams and don't care to wait for some lucky break. As I near the end of the book I'll be experimenting with various ways to get the word out, instead of hoping for sales when I drop it into the wide abyss that is Amazon.


Special Note: Thanks to ChickenHawk's progress thread for inspiring me to get off my a$$.

 

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[ChickenHawk]

at worst I'll have gained some great writing experience and I get the ability to say "I wrote a damn book!" which elevates me above a number of wannabe authors.

So true! Good luck and keep us posted!

 

[MJ DeMarco]

Sadly, I am not the best writer in the world,

Only the market can tell you that. Best you can do is give the market something and let it talk back to you. Then adjust, rinse, and repeat. In the meantime, you improve your craft. Writing well (like communicating) is a great skill to have.

Good luck.

 

[AndrewNC]

Theoretically, I could have spent a lot more time doing research, but I worried that if I did I would simply use that to justify not writing and putting off real action. Instead, we're gonna take the research we've done and give it a go! Who knows, we might get a hit.

Sadly, I am not the best writer in the world,

I put out two books that weren't best-written books. There were typo's, grammatical errors, and were more of a collection of articles I've wrtitten over the years instead of a book. I published it on amaazon anyway.

I was a terrible writer, but I did it anyway.

I sold about 1,000 copies...but the more important thing is that I didn't die.

When my non-perfect book went out into the market...a mob of fire and pitchforks didn't come hunt me down and burn me at the stake, like a witch.

So now I'm writing my first best-written book and I brought a few people to tears with my intro, because it was that poweful.

But I only learned that by actually doing it.

 

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[Invictus]

So true! Good luck and keep us posted!

ChickenHawk commented on my thread! I must fangirl squeal!

*Squeal*

Thanks ChickenHawk! I'll be updating whenever I have something interesting to say. Don't want to spam the thread with, "Wrote 1,000 words today."

Only the market can tell you that. Best you can do is give the market something and let it talk back to you. Then adjust, rinse, and repeat. In the meantime, you improve your craft. Writing well (like communicating) is a great skill to have.

Good luck.

Thanks MJ! I'm hoping that tailoring to the market and the readers is an advantage for me, instead of writing purely what I want and hoping for a success.

I put out two books that weren't best-written books. There were typo's, grammatical errors, and were more of a collection of articles I've wrtitten over the years instead of a book. I published it on amaazon anyway.

I was a terrible writer, but I did it anyway.

I sold about 1,000 copies...but the more important thing is that I didn't die.

When my non-perfect book went out into the market...a mob of fire and pitchforks didn't come hunt me down and burn me at the stake, like a witch.

So now I'm writing my first best-written book and I brought a few people to tears with my intro, because it was that poweful.

But I only learned that by actually doing it.

That's some amazing writing! The comment about the lack of angry mob makes me feel loads better about my chances of not being strung up.

 

[Lex DeVille]

"Wrote 1,000 words today."

In the long run those 1,000 words a day are what separates the wishIwouldas from the Ididits.

 

[Invictus]

Welp, I've hit five thousand words into our first novel. Using a rough plotting idea, the book will hit around 72,000 words when it's finished. That should put it around 240 pages or so, assuming 300 words per page.

So far I've found that I should be able to consistently hit a minimum of one thousand words a day. Two thousand looks like it's completely doable when I've got some time on my hands. And I should be able to hit more than that if I have lots of time and I'm powering through.

I've already had to push through several episodes of, "Oh Dear God this is bad, I should abandon this topic." At this point though, I'm in it just to finish the damn thing. Despite writing thousands and thousands of words, I've never finished a novel. I don't care if this thing is bad, it's getting written. From my experience with short stories, rewriting is where I can make the piece entertaining anyway.

In the long run those 1,000 words a day are what separates the wishIwouldas from the Ididits.

Definitely true. I don't have any intention of being the former for this book.

 

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[nichiseven]

Glad to hear you're on your way to a completed novel and it's great to see you sharing your experiences with us. Will be watching this thread for future updates, you can do it!

 

[Invictus]

Well I believe that an update is in order, less you guys believe that I've given up.

So I recently hit the ten thousand word mark in my story, which means that I'm well over 10% finished! Finish line isn't yet in sight, but it's really awesome to feel that you're making significant process.

Story as a whole is rough as hell, but rewriting as always been where I can make the product shine. I'm still not expecting anything too remarkable even after I finish the rewrite, but one can hope. I've been messing with a few ideas for marketing, but they're going to remain ideas until much later. At the moment I don't want to do anything that could cause me to spend less time writing under the guise of productivity.

The past few days have been a bit rough with the word count. With the exception of today, hitting one thousand words (full disclosure: one day was just 700) for some days was like drawing blood from a stone. I did it, but I had to fight for every word. Usually a thousand words isn't anything, and at first I was striking two thousand consistently, but recently I've been was struggling. This point in a manuscript is usually where I trash the piece because it 'isn't good enough' or I'm bored of it. I feel both of those right now, but I'm ignoring them. This thing will be finished, or I'm going to die (or break my hands).

Interestingly enough, I have picked up a bit of self-awareness about the grind and procrastination. It could basically be it's own thread, but it boils down to we tend to have more than enough time to get our shit done. I've blown most of today doing shit that amounted to nothing, when I could have been writing. It wasn't even a blood from the stone day, the words came out easily enough and I was just being lazy.

I'm not happy with that.











Anywho, back to the writing thing. <3

 

[ChickenHawk]

With the exception of today, hitting one thousand words (full disclosure: one day was just 700) for some days was like drawing blood from a stone. I did it, but I had to fight for every word.

Congrats on not giving up! It's funny how those words add up over time. Sentences complete paragraphs, which complete chapters, which complete the book. I have lots of days like the one you described above, so you're not alone.

 

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[nichiseven]

Fantastic news! Already 10k words towards your journey and doing well by the sounds of it. Reading your thread a week ago inspired me to get off my mental butt and do the same. Bookmarked your thread so I won't miss updates. You can do it

 

[Selfy]

Sadly, I am not the best writer in the world, but I do think that I'm better than the average monkey at a typewriter. Hell, being sub-par didn't stop a few shall-not-be-named bestsellers featuring terribly written sex.

I don't even have an English degree, nor did I do well in English Writing classes, but some of my books had broken top ranks in their subcategs (albeit briefly). Like in any business, give them what they want and profit. Write for ego, and lose.