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What book is everyone writing right now?

Skeptic Ginger said:
Even though I have the second whole book in my head, I put it on a back burner and am only working on the first book. Are you trying to finish one at a time?
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Yup. Both the first and second volumes are "written", so it's just editing, clean-ups, and rewrites. I'm focusing on the first volume, and once that's off to be beta-read/edited, I'll get to work on the second volume.

Each volume is divided into two Acts, and Act One is essentially complete. Act Two has needed extensive rewrites, which I'm almost done with. Once Act Two's rewrites are done I have to go back over Act One to fix up some issues caused by the chapter realignment, and write a couple of scenes I skipped over. Then ditto for Act Two.

Rinse, repeat for Act Three And Four (Volume II).

I don't expect to start writing volume III until the first two volumes are complete. For the purposes of cohesion I will potentially write the first draft of Volume III and IV together, before going back to Volume III for the serious business of later drafts.
 
Yeah, I made sure I had a pretty good draft of Book Three before selling it as a trilogy - to make sure I could deliver and for consistency purposes. I hate it when something's advertised as a series but the rest of the books aren't even thought up yet...I really liked "The Lies of Locke Lamora" and the sequel was pretty good, and it's supposed to be a 7-book series, but apparently the rest of the books only exist as paragraphs at this point. Frustrating!
 
My grand epic fantasy in which the good guys don't win 100% AND it will be finished in one volume or at most two so I don't drop dead with the series at Book 10 and at least 3 more volumes to go! (Yes I mean Robert Jordan and the Wheel of Time, though George R.R. Martin fans shouldn't get too cocky either!)
 
I have a bunch of ideas for books I want to write; but haven't really set down more than a few. There are only two that I've actually gotten a real start one. Both of them are on hold at the moment, due to lack of energy to devote to them (health issues, doing very little aside from work these days.

One is a Cthulhu Mythos story involving the lead of a Black/Death Metal band who sings about similar themes, being introduced to the "reality" behind the popular literature. The story follows his descent into insanity and involvement in the "nameless cults". I'm planning on deliberately keeping vague whether what he is experiencing is really happening, or if it's all in his head; including what I consider a fairly clever twist ending that will make it even more confusing. (I like ambiguity). Originally supposed to be a short story, it's developing into a novella.

The other is a fantasy adventure, sort of Robert Louis Stevenson by way of Terry Pratchett. The main character is a 14 year old boy somewhere on the high-functioning end of the Autistic spectrum, whose life revolves around numbers and fantasy stories. He goes through a series of adventures, along the way picking up various companions in the standard fantasy-story way, all the while being almost completely oblivious to it all, and in the end finally achieves his dream of becoming a chartered accountant. Intended as a single book, but if it turns out well enough, it may turn intoa "Discworld" type series. Still haven't decided if I'm going to include actual magic and fantasy creatures, or just leave it in the more-or-less real world and have the fantastical stuff in the protagonist's head.

I don't have a real "progress meter" on these, as I don't write beginning to end. I mostly write down various scenes, and then try to find a way to link them together with a story. I have a solid idea of the beginning and ending for both books, it's just the middle parts that are a bit dodgy at the moment.
 
Luchog, Scrivener is good for scene-writing style composition, if you don't use it already. You can try it for free.

Here's something funny: I'm being spammed by my own books! Websites where Amazon advertises based on user preferences are scrolling my own books at me, and I received a spam Amazon email this morning featuring...me! Because I really might like to read me! Weird.
 
Well, I guess this is where I come out of the closet then. Here it goes:

I WAS writing a short novel titled, "My First Arrival" which is a pardoy based on some of the Ancient Alien theories that first started out as a short story/flash fiction series. It's been a while since I've resumed writing that novel (stopped at chapter 5) and with other more important stuff that I have to attend to that book has to sit on the back burner for quite a while. Not to mention that I've taken up other things during my free time such as 3D modeling (something that I've went into for about the past 7 months) and some occasional drawing.

Maybe once I have more time, and more desire for writing literature, I could resume that project again in the near future.
 
I just wrote a killer chapter. I'm getting so much better at this. Course when I share it with the writers tomorrow I may feel completely different, but for the moment, it's a killer chapter. I'm on top of the world. :)
 
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Good job! It feels great to think you've got something "right", to know it flows well and it says what you want it to say, doesn't it?

I'm currently kind of at loose ends. My next release is in beta-reading and I'm waiting on the cover art (first book of a new series). The publisher is still sitting on the third book in the previous series. I've got some ideas rattling around, but darned if any of them will coalesce into a coherent plot. It's not exactly writer's block - it's inspiration block, I guess.

Meanwhile, doing lots of reading...both beta and published. February Funk?
 
While I still like my chapter, the leader of our writer's group is so helpful. So his criticism didn't take me down a notch at all, rather, I like the challenge.

What is the conflict, where are you going with this scene, all that stuff, helped me refine my focus. He wants my protag to be be in charge, be the leader. But I know that's his version. When I thought about it I realized, no, my protag is on a self esteem roller coaster. She doesn't overcome self doubt until the story resolution.

Anyway, that's helped me refine and improve this whole section of the story.

So, Tik, what is it you want to say next? :)
 
I've written some Star Wars fan fiction from a bounty hunter perspective. It needs to be filled out a bit, but I have the first "episode" basically done and a second one started.

I don't suppose anyone would be interested in reading and critiquing?
 
Sabretooth said:
I've written some Star Wars fan fiction from a bounty hunter perspective. It needs to be filled out a bit, but I have the first "episode" basically done and a second one started.

I don't suppose anyone would be interested in reading and critiquing?
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How long? I could look at a bit of it at a time. Except I'm not much of an expert.

Or, are there any writer's meetups in your area? If so, you need to find the right one, they vary in helpfulness.
 
Skeptic Ginger said:
How long? I could look at a bit of it at a time. Except I'm not much of an expert.

Or, are there any writer's meetups in your area? If so, you need to find the right one, they vary in helpfulness.
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The first part is 60 pages or so. I think. I'll have to check when I sit down at the PC.
 
Sabretooth said:
The first part is 60 pages or so. I think. I'll have to check when I sit down at the PC.
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I don't have the time for 60 pages all at once. I'd be willing to give 5 or so pages (~1500 words) a go if you want to give me a scene or chapter to look at.

PM me your email and I'll PM you mine. Or is it on a fanfic site already?

Ginger
 
Skeptic Ginger said:
I don't have the time for 60 pages all at once. I'd be willing to give 5 or so pages (~1500 words) a go if you want to give me a scene or chapter to look at.

PM me your email and I'll PM you mine. Or is it on a fanfic site already?

Ginger
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It's published on a site.
http://issuu.com/ciesladc/docs/vaed_xiin_vol_i

If you don't have time, it's no big deal. If you just want to start in the middle or something and read a few pages, that's cool.
 
Sabretooth, you could join Goodreads and search for First Reads/Beta Reads groups. I know of at least one. There, you will get a real, honest opinion of your work from someone you don't know. In exchange, you will need to beta-read someone else' work. This can be a painful but very useful experience. I just got my beta-read back on the novel I'll be putting out soon and am going through it sprucing up a few things - after about two days of pouting and saying, "Nuh-uh!". The reader also found typos, even though I'd read it somewhere around twelve times. Very valuable.

You'll probably want to be on Goodreads when you publish anyway, if you're not already. Good luck!
 
Tiktaalik said:
Sabretooth, you could join Goodreads and search for First Reads/Beta Reads groups. I know of at least one. There, you will get a real, honest opinion of your work from someone you don't know. In exchange, you will need to beta-read someone else' work. This can be a painful but very useful experience. I just got my beta-read back on the novel I'll be putting out soon and am going through it sprucing up a few things - after about two days of pouting and saying, "Nuh-uh!". The reader also found typos, even though I'd read it somewhere around twelve times. Very valuable.

You'll probably want to be on Goodreads when you publish anyway, if you're not already. Good luck!
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Thanks for the advice! I'll definitely head over there.
 
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