What book is everyone writing right now?

[Wowbagger]

I once tried to put together some sort of novel about parallel universes, that can't interact with each other, but can still generate plot twists in how they don't interact. It's rather complicated, and involved a lot of probability theory. But, in one of the universes the Earth has aliens from another planet visiting it, and stuff.

But, I haven't touched it in years. Does it still count as something I am "writing"?

 

[Skeptic Ginger]

Comrade Raptor, you are out of date. The Internet and modern technology opening up direct access to the public allows a talented person to bypass the gates. And those gates, as we have seen by the number of excellent books which were at first turned down by publisher after publisher, are not some magical filter separating the wheat from the chaff.

E-publishing means anyone can get their work out there and the public can be the judge.


As for, What book is everyone writing right now?:
My novel has a complete storyline, no name, and I continue to revise and revise. I'm working on the hard part, putting the details of the world in around the story and characters. When I have a new revelation and make another revision I get even more excited and happy with how it's coming along. Whether I'm going to end up with something I love and no one else does remains to be seen. Part of me says a person cannot just take up writing and put something good out on the first attempt and another part of me says yes I can. If enthusiasm can write a book, I'm there.

It remains to be seen and it's a very long way from being finished, I'm estimating a year or so. But I'm living in my story world in the meantime and that's just great fun for me right now. I love the characters. I love the story. I thought I had the ending, changed it a couple times, and have decided I'm not quite sure where to stop the story and have it feel complete. But there's time for that.


I'll put a plug in for Tiktaalik's book, BTW. I can't wait for the second installment. And I'm looking forward to reading the book my political nemesis, Gumboot, has written.

 

[Skeptic Ginger]

Say Beanbag and Dallas Dad, hope the twisters missed you and yours.

 

[Brown]

I have another story in the works, mostly written but in need of finishing and polishing, that could be called sceince fiction. Though it isn't, not really.

The premise is that there is about to be another "first." There have been many famous "firsts": first to cross an ocean, first to make a powered flight, first to fly across an ocean alone, first to fly in space, first to walk on the Moon ... all accomplished by men.

As the story opens, humankind is on the verge of another famous "first" (and here's where the futuristic part of the story comes in). There are two candidates for this "first": a man and a woman. The woman is chosen to be "first."

The man, although he recognizes that the woman is qualified, feels that he has proven that he is MORE qualified. He also feels that there will be a backlash, and that the public will think that the selected candidate was chosen because she is a woman.

Thereafter, the futuristic angle takes a back seat. The story develops over whether the official story--that the candidate selected to complete this historic "first" was the BEST candidate, and that gender had NOTHING to do with it--is actually going to stand up.

Sorry, I won't say more, and I won't give away the ending. I will say, however, that there are some twists in the story, including a mini-twist at the end of the first chapter.

 

[Newbielayman]

I have another story in the works, mostly written but in need of finishing and polishing, that could be called sceince fiction. Though it isn't, not really.

The premise is that there is about to be another "first." There have been many famous "firsts": first to cross an ocean, first to make a powered flight, first to fly across an ocean alone, first to fly in space, first to walk on the Moon ... all accomplished by men.

As the story opens, humankind is on the verge of another famous "first" (and here's where the futuristic part of the story comes in). There are two candidates for this "first": a man and a woman. The woman is chosen to be "first."

The man, although he recognizes that the woman is qualified, feels that he has proven that he is MORE qualified. He also feels that there will be a backlash, and that the public will think that the selected candidate was chosen because she is a woman.

Thereafter, the futuristic angle takes a back seat. The story develops over whether the official story--that the candidate selected to complete this historic "first" was the BEST candidate, and that gender had NOTHING to do with it--is actually going to stand up.

Sorry, I won't say more, and I won't give away the ending. I will say, however, that there are some twists in the story, including a mini-twist at the end of the first chapter.

It has all the hallmarks of a pop-culture classic a la "Twighlight" or "Hunger Games" if you would engage the writing at about the second grade level, write in stream of consciousness, make the two candidates about 13 years old, ensure that the woman is actually incredibly talented and the male is a complete fool, and then change it so that the male was pre-selected on the basis of his sex. Oh, and yeah, the secondary sub-plot which takes over the primary plot should in itself be overtaken by the romantic interests of the female. If you do these things, you're certain to achieve EPIC WIN!

 

[DallasDad]

Thanks, Ginger. The twisters hit both north and south of us. We got lots of rain, and had to spend a long time in the shelter, but emerged unscathed.

 

[Spindrift]

I'm working on JREF Forums: My first 6000 posts.

I'm almost finished. The plot is a little thin, it's more of an avant garde piece, destined to torture American Lit students in the year 3022, after it's rediscovered and recognized for the the masterpiece that it will be.

 

[Skeptic Ginger]

I'm working on JREF Forums: My first 6000 posts.

I'm almost finished. The plot is a little thin, it's more of an avant garde piece, destined to torture American Lit students in the year 3022, after it's rediscovered and recognized for the the masterpiece that it will be.

 

[Brown]

It has all the hallmarks of a pop-culture classic a la "Twighlight" or "Hunger Games" if you would engage the writing at about the second grade level, write in stream of consciousness, make the two candidates about 13 years old, ensure that the woman is actually incredibly talented and the male is a complete fool, and then change it so that the male was pre-selected on the basis of his sex. Oh, and yeah, the secondary sub-plot which takes over the primary plot should in itself be overtaken by the romantic interests of the female. If you do these things, you're certain to achieve EPIC WIN!

I'll take it under advisement. Writing for an audience that has no taste and damn little intelligence indeed has some appeal. It may be substantially easier than my current approach, which is to carefully craft sentences so as to cause the reader to form a mental picture and to appreciate the subtleties of the various points of view.

At one point, I considred adding romantic interest, but said screw that. In my current draft, there is no romantic interest at all, by anyone. There is, however, sex. That is to say, there are gender differences, not that there is any actual activity of the procreative, kinky or otherwise dirty kind.

I can offer the following teaser: The woman in the story is attractive, but almost certainly not in the way you think!

I also considered adding some explosions and giant robots, which would perhaps wreck the women's shower and cause dozens of svelte, naked ladies to flee for their own safety, perhaps losing their towels in the process. (When you are an author, you can actually DO this: characters and things actually do what you say!) But such a sub-plot would detract too much from the main story, and it also might mean that if a movie is made from this story, Michael Bay might be selected as the director; neither of these outcomes is appealing.

 

[Craig4]

I'm working on a cookbook. The working title is "Outrageously Difficult, Time Consuming Recipes You Can Attempt at Home". I expect this will serve a niche market.

 

[Information Analyst]

A couple of books on the London Underground, the most advanced being one about its appearance or use in films and television (drama & comedy, not documentary). I have consequently been watching too many really bad romantic comedies lately....

 

[gumboot]

It has all the hallmarks of a pop-culture classic a la "Twighlight" or "Hunger Games" if you would engage the writing at about the second grade level, write in stream of consciousness, make the two candidates about 13 years old, ensure that the woman is actually incredibly talented and the male is a complete fool, and then change it so that the male was pre-selected on the basis of his sex. Oh, and yeah, the secondary sub-plot which takes over the primary plot should in itself be overtaken by the romantic interests of the female. If you do these things, you're certain to achieve EPIC WIN!

I think it's pretty insulting to compare "Twilight" and "The Hunger Games".

 

[gumboot]

Comrade Raptor, you are out of date. The Internet and modern technology opening up direct access to the public allows a talented person to bypass the gates. And those gates, as we have seen by the number of excellent books which were at first turned down by publisher after publisher, are not some magical filter separating the wheat from the chaff.

E-publishing means anyone can get their work out there and the public can be the judge.


As for, What book is everyone writing right now?:
My novel has a complete storyline, no name, and I continue to revise and revise. I'm working on the hard part, putting the details of the world in around the story and characters. When I have a new revelation and make another revision I get even more excited and happy with how it's coming along. Whether I'm going to end up with something I love and no one else does remains to be seen. Part of me says a person cannot just take up writing and put something good out on the first attempt and another part of me says yes I can. If enthusiasm can write a book, I'm there.

It remains to be seen and it's a very long way from being finished, I'm estimating a year or so. But I'm living in my story world in the meantime and that's just great fun for me right now. I love the characters. I love the story. I thought I had the ending, changed it a couple times, and have decided I'm not quite sure where to stop the story and have it feel complete. But there's time for that.


I'll put a plug in for Tiktaalik's book, BTW. I can't wait for the second installment. And I'm looking forward to reading the book my political nemesis, Gumboot, has written.

Glad to hear the book is still moving forward. Just yesterday I tried to find your thread on the topic to ask for an update, but it appears threads in this subforum lapse after two pages.

So from what you've said, does that mean you've finished the first draft?

It's great news that you're still into your story, and indeed becoming more excited about it as time passes, that's great.

My editing had been progressing well but I made a major structural change which stopped me dead in my tracks. I've solved that issue now and am happy to report the enthusiasm is sparking up for me again as well.

 

[Skeptic Ginger]

I think it's pretty insulting to compare "Twilight" and "The Hunger Games".

Definitely. And I don't think because kids and adults like a book (like Harry Potter) that means the work isn't also good. I'm hoping teens and adults like my book. It makes for a bigger potential audience.


My son tells me Hunger Games has a problem in that the author stole the idea from Battle Royale. I haven't read the latter so I'm withholding judgement. One can see a lot of past stories in current ones. We are all products of our environment.

How do you stop worrying about your ideas getting stolen? Remember two things: everything is archetypal, and execution matters most. A love triangle. Coming of age stories. The hero’s journey. These are all archetypes, and whether you’ll admit it to yourself or not, your ideas are all probably stemmed from one archetype or another. That’s not a bad thing – it’s what makes stories universal.

But that brings us to point two - execution matters the most. This is where it’s relevant to talk about The Hunger Games and Battle Royale. Both books, and now films, have the exact same premise: A totalitarian government puts teenagers on an island and forces them to kill each other as a means of societal control. But the execution is not the same;

Ah yes, that pesky execution. Sigh....

Though in the case of the Hunger Games, both books seem to have had their own successes.

 

[Skeptic Ginger]

Glad to hear the book is still moving forward. Just yesterday I tried to find your thread on the topic to ask for an update, but it appears threads in this subforum lapse after two pages.

So from what you've said, does that mean you've finished the first draft?

It's great news that you're still into your story, and indeed becoming more excited about it as time passes, that's great.

My editing had been progressing well but I made a major structural change which stopped me dead in my tracks. I've solved that issue now and am happy to report the enthusiasm is sparking up for me again as well.

No finished draft yet but I'm getting closer to the whole draft re-write. The way I've been tackling the task is to write and re-write whole scenes. What I haven't done is decide how I'm going to order the scenes. There are two separate parts to the book and in each part the story will not be chronological, but instead flashbacks occur throughout.

I work on one part in the book for a while then switch and work on the second part. The protagonists differ in each half with a single character that interacts with both. At first I was going to have the single character be the protagonist in the second half of the story but now I've brought another character to the forefront and I'm deciding how I like the story better.

The idea and body of the story are definitely complete. Like I said, the whole story sort of popped into my head all at once. But I have a goal in mind in telling the story. There is meaning and symbolism so I've been working on just how to get the important themes properly expressed.

It needs more structural change as one idea runs into problems and something else works better. But I keep finding those 'something elses'. My characters are developing nicely, getting less cliché hopefully. How things got the way they are is staying close to the same. I've made a few major changes in the political/social structure of the society in order for the story to work better but the concepts I want to express are the same.

The thing I'm having the hardest time on right now is giving the reader the picture of the society around these characters. Parts of the book are easy, there are forests and wilderness scenes which are easier to describe and feel. But when it comes to describing that future world, with the city and the society and the government, it's tougher. So I've been looking at some cyber punk writing to see how other people describe future worlds.


I like talking about the book so thanks for asking. I also like hearing about everyone else's.

 

[Skeptic Ginger]

I'm working on a cookbook. The working title is "Outrageously Difficult, Time Consuming Recipes You Can Attempt at Home". I expect this will serve a niche market.

I think that's very clever. Most cookbooks are the 'wonderful dishes you can make in 30 minutes' types.

 

[Skeptic Ginger]

It has all the hallmarks of a pop-culture classic a la "Twighlight" or "Hunger Games" if you would engage the writing at about the second grade level, write in stream of consciousness, make the two candidates about 13 years old, ensure that the woman is actually incredibly talented and the male is a complete fool, and then change it so that the male was pre-selected on the basis of his sex. Oh, and yeah, the secondary sub-plot which takes over the primary plot should in itself be overtaken by the romantic interests of the female. If you do these things, you're certain to achieve EPIC WIN!

The main women in my story are independent, strong, and competent. Tough luck if the guys don't like it.

But who wants men that are fools? That's not romantic. Neither is narrowing a woman's desires and goals down to just finding the right guy. My ladies get to be accomplished and they get the guys as well.

 

[Brown]

No finished draft yet but I'm getting closer to the whole draft re-write. The way I've been tackling the task is to write and re-write whole scenes. What I haven't done is decide how I'm going to order the scenes. There are two separate parts to the book and in each part the story will not be chronological, but instead flashbacks occur throughout.

I work on one part in the book for a while then switch and work on the second part. The protagonists differ in each half with a single character that interacts with both. At first I was going to have the single character be the protagonist in the second half of the story but now I've brought another character to the forefront and I'm deciding how I like the story better.

Would you agree that it is the re-writing and self-editing and "polishing" that REALLY eats up the time? Or is it just me?

In my case, simply writing out the story or the basic plot takes comparatively little time. But going back and reworking, changing one thing here which means I need to change something else there, reading everything aloud, looking for any holes or inconsistencies (which are NOT obvious to the author, because the author is familiar with the story, but which WOULD be obvious to a reader who is not familiar with the story), moving a section to an earlier or later part, removing patterns and repeated figures of speech ... I could lose WHOLE DAYS on these tasks and wonder where those days went.

 

[Beanbag]

Say Beanbag and Dallas Dad, hope the twisters missed you and yours.

For me, lots of rain, though I saw a LOT of cars with broken-out rear windows from hail on the drive home that evening. We can use the rain, but the twisters can take a leave of absence.

Beanbag

 

[Tiktaalik]

Would you agree that it is the re-writing and self-editing and "polishing" that REALLY eats up the time? Or is it just me?

In my case, simply writing out the story or the basic plot takes comparatively little time. But going back and reworking, changing one thing here which means I need to change something else there, reading everything aloud, looking for any holes or inconsistencies (which are NOT obvious to the author, because the author is familiar with the story, but which WOULD be obvious to a reader who is not familiar with the story), moving a section to an earlier or later part, removing patterns and repeated figures of speech ... I could lose WHOLE DAYS on these tasks and wonder where those days went.

I actually enjoy revising. It puts me back into the world in a more relaxed state, where I'm not just purging ideas onto the page. I'd probably keep revising forever, but you gotta stop somewhere and submit.

S.G., thanks for the plug, and Book II is at the acquisition editor to make a decision about whether it will also be picked up. I'm impatient.