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What book is everyone writing right now?

Just joined the thread and skimmed the last few pages.

It does not seem like anybody has brought this up since it came out, but I am reading Joseph Anton: A Memoir.

I am really enjoying. I have never read anything of Rushdie's prior to this, and based on how much I like his memoir, I very well may change that in the near future. While, I was only somewhat familiar with the story (he went into hiding when I was 18) it is his writing style that I find so appealing. I am wondering if anybody else is reading, or has already read this and if so what they think of it.
 
You might try the "What Book is Everybody Reading Right Now?" thread...
 
I finished a draft of my latest effort at a sci-fi novel last night. It's called Twilight Suns, Pioneer Worlds: The Secession Campaign; 73000 words ATM. It actually got started because of a forum thread where someone was looking for technical help with their sci-fi novel. Instead it bogged down in an argument about how come the rebel side had better hardware and were better at combat. I put forward a possible explanation and after it turned out the other guy had something a lot weirder in mind I decided it was too good to waste. :)

For previous efforts I've usually worked out detailed out lines but this time It was basically just a one line 'scene' description. I did submit one of my previous efforts to Baen and they did read it. I go a rejection letter with a lot of helpful advice about making the thing publishable but I had just spent so long with that manuscript that I couldn't stomach going back to it and the next one I was just never happy with the way the plot worked out.

Anyway now I'm looking for someone(s) to read the Secession Campaign before I start polishing it up. Then the question is submit it or self publish? Can anybody help me out?
 
It sounds like something I might like, but...I'm currently reviewing 2 books with another on the table, plus trying to write more of my own, plus work, plus train my dogs, plus...you get the picture! But I would say, after you get it polished, give it a certain amount of time or a certain number of submissions, try & get a publisher (I personally think you can skip the agent), and if that doesn't work under your criteria, go the self-published, KDP-route.

My two cents.
 
Anyway now I'm looking for someone(s) to read the Secession Campaign before I start polishing it up. Then the question is submit it or self publish? Can anybody help me out?

I'm planning on doing NANOWRIMO, so will be rather busy in the month of November, but if you're still looking for someone to read and give a critique come the first of December, I would love to!
 
I'm planning on doing NANOWRIMO, so will be rather busy in the month of November, but if you're still looking for someone to read and give a critique come the first of December, I would love to!

Thanks, I'll keep that in mind. :)
 
Okay, so after a truly insanely busy year of shooting "Spartacus" and a horrendously stressful last few months (don't ask) I've actually got back to my writing, and have just finished another chapter. Hooray. Progress.
 
Okay, so after a truly insanely busy year of shooting "Spartacus" and a horrendously stressful last few months (don't ask) I've actually got back to my writing, and have just finished another chapter. Hooray. Progress.

(clicks "like" button)

Both of my first two books are now out in paperback as well as Kindle & Nook formats, I'm waiting to edit the third, and working on chapter 15 of the next one (different series). Oh, and I'm putting a self-pubbed (KDP) short-story book into paperback. However, I seem to be a little stalled on the last couple chapters of the one I'm working on right now. Maybe a little too much on my plate, sound familiar?
 
The writing is progressing well, but I thought I'd shamelessly share my latest blog post on the topic of artistic inspiration, as I thought it might be interesting to my fellow writers.

Chasing The Muse

It begins;

One of the most common question people ask me, as a writer, is what inspires me. The impression I get is that for those who aren’t infected with the writer gene, it’s something of a mystery where writers draw the ideas that are then formed into their stories. It’s a complex question, and generally I try to avoid it with answers like “just writing”, “nothing”, or “everything”.

Today I thought I’d give this question some real thought and try to come up with a more complex answer, and in the process, perhaps provide some insight into how exactly it is that I go about writing.
 
I have a question for my fellow writers, specifically those who've written or are writing a multi-volume series (Tiktaalik, I'm looking at you!).

How do you maintain continuity? I've starting to really struggle with actually keeping track of everything now, and it's getting to be a problem. I've got a bunch of disparate documents that track various different things, but I still seem to find that so much gets lost, on a regular basis, only to be found months later by accident.
 
Seeing as how Tiktaalik hasn't had time to answer, ...

I thought you had maps and political/social systems all worked out. What kind of details exactly are you having trouble with?

My two book series consists of two fairly separate stories with one character tying the two stories together. Each book has a different protagonist the overlapping character interacts with. In the second book I currently have the two protagonists meeting each other but that's far enough off the story could change.

Bottom line, sorry, I'm not much help but I'm wondering where you're having trouble.
 
Seeing as how Tiktaalik hasn't had time to answer, ...

I thought you had maps and political/social systems all worked out. What kind of details exactly are you having trouble with?


Everything and anything. As an example, my protagonist learns a martial art that's based on wushu. There are a myriad of stances, movements, styles, and forms, all with their own names. That's another database I have to create (haven't yet).

Then there's the different constellations, and their relationship to each other, in multiple cultures.

Then there's the hëil culture which has at its centre schools of learning based around specific fields of study. I have to try keep track of all the different schools.

Multiply this by a thousand, and you begin to appreciate the scale of my problem.

When in the midst of writing, or sketching notes, it's very easy to forget to transfer these details across to a database (and the mere effort of creating and maintaining these databases is exhausting itself), and then they end up lost in a sea of text.

Going back through 400,000 words and 3,700 computer files looking for these details and then creating the hundreds of necessary databases makes me want to throw up!

I really need some way to come up with one massive database where everything is contained.

I was thinking something along the lines of an offline wiki, but I was curious what other people had done.
 
Take this with the grain of salt I have to offer (meaning I'm very much a novice who shouldn't even venture into the advice area of this question): WHY?

In other words how do these details matter to the story? If you have such an intricate story line, what do these details contribute to the story? It seems to me that whatever key thing(s) the details contribute to the story should suggest to you how to track said details.




Feel free to simply ignore me. :)
 
Copious notes.

I usually have at least these three sets of notes:

A timeline
A set of character sketches that explain physical characteristics, motivations, and other important stuff
A "notes" file that contains questions I've come up with, notes on continuity, and bits of writing I've either removed and don't want to trash yet, or haven't found a place to insert yet.

And often a hand-drawn map to keep distances and directions straight,

I usually also have a bunch of hard copies, sorted by subject, in files. For example, I wrote a mystery a number of years ago (never published) and I ended up with files on 1970s car colors, the connection between ammonium nitrate production and methamphetamine creation, how wood pulp is made into particle board, byproducts of urea & wood glue production - a whole bunch of weird and seemly unconnected files, which I referred to regularly while writing.

I also re-read copiously, over and over and over. I usually set aside a read-through in which I refuse to make any changes, only notes. That way I can read faster and pick up inconsistencies.

Using Scrivener has certainly helped with this, by the way. That's because it's easy to set everything up as a within-system file that you can open with a single click so switching back and forth is easy. You can also split-screen and use the "corkboard" to organize chapters, etc. with a set of short notes, so you can read through them all, kind of like an outline, on a single page.

I don't know how other people do it, of course, but I agree that continuity is an issue in a long work, and people WILL notice it if there's an inconsistency. Of course, in the "Stolen" trilogy I also had a line/content editor and an editor who checked for consistency at the last minute. Nice, but I'm thinking of going Indie with my next one...
 
Take this with the grain of salt I have to offer (meaning I'm very much a novice who shouldn't even venture into the advice area of this question): WHY?

In other words how do these details matter to the story? If you have such an intricate story line, what do these details contribute to the story? It seems to me that whatever key thing(s) the details contribute to the story should suggest to you how to track said details.

Feel free to simply ignore me. :)


I would never ignore you. :)

It's a valid question, I suppose. One is an issue of, I suppose, philosophy. There tends to be two approaches to fantasy writing; one where it's all about the story being written, and one where immersion in the world is also given importance.

Some writers will provide only the worldbuilding that's absolutely essential to the plot, with nothing beyond it, while others will prefer to give a sense that the story is only one of many taking place within a complex and fully realised world.

To illustrate, using invented languages:

For the first type, an invented "language" might consist of six words, created at random, for the single sentence spoken in that language. No thought given to grammar of any kind, as the language only features as a single sentence, and it's not worth it to put more effort in. Invent six words, and move on.

The second type may partially construct the language as a whole, developing words mostly as required, but also establishing some grammar rules such as conjugation of verbs, tenses, pluralism, basic sentence structure, and so on. The actual story might still only feature a single six word sentence, but a great deal more work has gone into the language.

I'm of the second type. What that means is, when I'm describing different martial arts moves and so on, it's not enough from my perspective to just invent a name on the spot each time, at random. I need to have at least a vague understanding of what each of these moves is, and where they might be relevant.

If Vine That Catches is used to counter a lunge called Heron Catches The Eel in one scene, I need to keep a track of that, so that if someone lunges at a character in another scene, they also use the appropriate guard, or that I don't have them uses that guard to counter an overhead swing.

Is it totally necessary? No. Is a reader likely to ever notice? Only if they read the book over and over, I would think. But I'll know. For me, maintaining the illusion of a comprehensive "real" world is very important, and so I need to be as accurate and careful with my continuity as a writer setting their work in a historical period, or modern times.

One of my reasonings behind this adherence to continuity is that I intend only ever to write within this one world, so anything I do now is an established rule for the remainder of my writing life. While today's book might only feature six words of that invented language, what happens if a future book uses it extensively, requiring me to really flesh out grammar and so on? If I haven't already established the most important rules for that first six word sentence, it's very likely that sentence will cease to be "authentic". That shatters the illusion of a consistent world.

Likewise, Heron Catches The Eel might be a throw-away, flowery description of a fighting move today, but in a future book and entire character scene might revolve around someone struggling to learn that move correctly because their balance is wrong.
 
Copious notes.

I usually have at least these three sets of notes:

A timeline
A set of character sketches that explain physical characteristics, motivations, and other important stuff
A "notes" file that contains questions I've come up with, notes on continuity, and bits of writing I've either removed and don't want to trash yet, or haven't found a place to insert yet.


What do you do when that note file gets too big? I started using a file like that about eight years ago, but it's currently about the size of a novella itself, and far too ungainly to be useful, so I've stopped putting anything in it.


Using Scrivener has certainly helped with this, by the way. That's because it's easy to set everything up as a within-system file that you can open with a single click so switching back and forth is easy. You can also split-screen and use the "corkboard" to organize chapters, etc. with a set of short notes, so you can read through them all, kind of like an outline, on a single page.

I've actually wondered about using the research aspect of Scrivener to organise everything. I've started to use it a little, and it has helped. I think I'm just intimidated by transferring and sorting all those notes!
 
Well, I strictly limit what goes in my Notes files. I keep breaking things out. Like you, I prefer to know more about my "world" than anyone else can know or guess, although yours sounds even more complex (my trilogy is only about 275,000 words total). I write separate short stories about some of the characters - those will likely never see the light of day, but it gives me a better idea of who they are. Then I just sort them by name, or folder, i.e., I'd have a folder for Character Sketches, a folder for City Histories with files on History of Hyolon, History of Andolith, History of Matbor, History of West Ford, History of the Polebray, etc., although if some of these are short I might combine them into a regional file.

In short, I guess it's just a matter of finding some organizational system that works for you, whether it's folders with files in them, hardcopy files, or what have you. Personally, I like breaking things out into topical files because it makes it easier to search within them.

So you'd have a folder labeled, "Martial Arts", with files called "History of Martial Arts", "Types of Martial Arts", "Specific Martial Arts Moves", "Martial Arts Used By Characters", "Martial Arts Training system", "Martial Arts Masters", etc.

And you'd have a folder called "Languages", with files on different vocabularies, preferably organized alphabetically, broken into topic, maybe.

I dunno - I think that would work for me, but everyone's mind works differently.
 
I would never ignore you. :)

It's a valid question, I suppose. One is an issue of, I suppose, philosophy. There tends to be two approaches to fantasy writing; one where it's all about the story being written, and one where immersion in the world is also given importance.

Some writers will provide only the worldbuilding that's absolutely essential to the plot, with nothing beyond it, while others will prefer to give a sense that the story is only one of many taking place within a complex and fully realised world.

To illustrate, using invented languages:

For the first type, an invented "language" might consist of six words, created at random, for the single sentence spoken in that language. No thought given to grammar of any kind, as the language only features as a single sentence, and it's not worth it to put more effort in. Invent six words, and move on.

The second type may partially construct the language as a whole, developing words mostly as required, but also establishing some grammar rules such as conjugation of verbs, tenses, pluralism, basic sentence structure, and so on. The actual story might still only feature a single six word sentence, but a great deal more work has gone into the language.

I'm of the second type. What that means is, when I'm describing different martial arts moves and so on, it's not enough from my perspective to just invent a name on the spot each time, at random. I need to have at least a vague understanding of what each of these moves is, and where they might be relevant.

If Vine That Catches is used to counter a lunge called Heron Catches The Eel in one scene, I need to keep a track of that, so that if someone lunges at a character in another scene, they also use the appropriate guard, or that I don't have them uses that guard to counter an overhead swing.

Is it totally necessary? No. Is a reader likely to ever notice? Only if they read the book over and over, I would think. But I'll know. For me, maintaining the illusion of a comprehensive "real" world is very important, and so I need to be as accurate and careful with my continuity as a writer setting their work in a historical period, or modern times.

One of my reasonings behind this adherence to continuity is that I intend only ever to write within this one world, so anything I do now is an established rule for the remainder of my writing life. While today's book might only feature six words of that invented language, what happens if a future book uses it extensively, requiring me to really flesh out grammar and so on? If I haven't already established the most important rules for that first six word sentence, it's very likely that sentence will cease to be "authentic". That shatters the illusion of a consistent world.

Likewise, Heron Catches The Eel might be a throw-away, flowery description of a fighting move today, but in a future book and entire character scene might revolve around someone struggling to learn that move correctly because their balance is wrong.
I think you misunderstood me. If intricate world building is important to your story then it is. I believe there are a lot of writers who are interesting because they weave intricate other worlds into their stories.

Where does your world building outline break into something unwieldy? My guess/suggestion (again take it with the lack of expertise it's coming from) is that you might need a tighter organization (thicker branches) at the top of the tree.

It would seem weapons and fighting techniques are one branch.

Languages are a branch.

And so on.

See where your categories are dividing into too many branches.

If you're like me, I suspect you might have just let things get too disorganized over too long a period of time and your brain is resisting fixing the mess.

I'm collecting lots of data about my world that I only plan to use as framework and backstory stuff but I want it to be realistic. I made one huge file in Word and just kept adding and adding anything I came across I think I might use, from quotes I might want to put in a chapter intro to space travel and global warming science.

Then I made categories and cut and pasted the initial collection into sections. My plan is to then distill that stuff down to the notes I put into my Scrivener files matching the categories. I may only have a half page that mentions the space travel actually in the novel, I'm not sure yet. But I want that part of the story to be credible. So I've collected pages and pages from science stories on the Net.

Same with the quotes. It may turn out only a couple ever get used. But the ideas contained in the quotes are meaningful and the ideas might translate into some key parts in the story.

I have categories for future technology, and social/political issues that are relevant.

My characters are real people I've created in my mind and while I haven't needed to write out character sketches yet, I act out the characters in my head when I walk my dogs. If stuff doesn't seem right, I rework it. So my characters have developed and matured in my mind. I may be sorry I've not written everything I've acted out down but so far it hasn't been an issue. I tried taking a recorder with me on the walks but so far I've not found that to be as practical as just coming back and writing up a scene I just worked on in my mind. I found I wasn't going back and replaying the recordings so I quit using it.
 
Thanks for the musings... I definitely feel that it has become unwieldy and that's a lot of my problem is poor organisation, I guess that's where I'm looking for help... :D

I think some of my original categorisation has become too limiting, without sufficient branching to keep things organised, and no way of incorporating small notes. That perhaps is where Scrivener is handy.

My main reluctance to use Scrivener was that a project is for a specific book, but these notes are more general (some of them), and some really have nothing to do with the current project at all. I'm wondering if I don't create a second Scrivener "notes" project that's totally separate from the book project, although then of course it takes away the benefit of being able to work on the book while accessing the notes.

Aye!

I thought I had it set up fairly well in the beginning with about 11 major categories and sub categories below those, but I think my problem is these were populated by more comprehensive documents, rather than really designed for small notes and musings.

So I started a separate general notebook where I'd put thoughts from any and all categories, but of course now that's my main source of notes, it's enormous, and totally unsorted!

I think maybe the way is moving it all into Scrivener because then I can break off those individual notebook notes into their relevant categories and put a one line comment about a religion's deity right next to a comprehensive detailed document about a different deity, all under the mythology category.
 

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