Kevin's Watch

I'm new here. I've been reading through old posts and realized that we've got a few aspiring writers--not just people who write stories and show their friends, I mean people who have sent off completed manuscripts seeking to be published. More than one. Amazing. I suppose a site like this will attrack that kind of person.

Anyway, I bring it up because I'm a writer, too. I don't like to talk about it with "non-writers" (I like to call them "readers". Actually, I just made that up.) because their eyes just kind of glaze over from information overload. [Note: don't ask me what my book is about if you're just trying to make polite conversation. That's not a question an author can chit-chat about!] But I'd love to hear some insights, experiences, advice, etc. from others who are going through this wonderful/horrendous experience of trying to be a fantasy author.

To get the ball rolling: I've been working on a book for way too many years. I got the idea in high school, and it won't leave me alone. I tried to write it during college, but realized that I didn't have the philosophical expertise to do the project justice. So I switched majors from physics to philosophy (yes, I'm crazy) so I'd have the knowledge to write it. (No, not crazy--freakin stupid. I could have been a physicist. What was I thinking?)

When I amassed enough knowledge to feel comfortable about going forward, I began writing in earnest. That process was just like Donaldson described in the beginning of LFB: a sustained rush of creativity, like a lightning bolt of passion. It was amazing. The book took off like a over-zealous dog, dragging me along as I desperately clutched the leash, pretending that I was guiding it but knowing on some level that it was guiding me.

I perfected my query letter, sent them off in batches of five, received a couple rejection form letters, and then hit the jackpot. I had James Allen at the Virginia Kidd Agency want to see the first three chapters. After a month, he requested the entire manuscript (that was a night of celebration and expensive beer!).

The next few months, I put it away and didn't look at it. After many months of silent anticipation, I contacted the agency only to learn that Mr. Allen had died. I tried to see this tragedy in cosmic, impersonal terms, and resisted the temptation to attach any personal significance to it. It wasn't a sign that I was doomed to fail, damnit!

I took this "opportunity" to give my book a fresh look, and I didn't like what I saw. It needed some major revision(s). I couldn't believe an agent actually was interested after rereading it myself.

One child and a couple career changes later, I'm about ready to send it off again. Now I'm reading things online like "it's a bad time to start a fantasy writing career," etc. Is this true? Most of my market research was done a few years ago. What's changed in the last few years? I thought the Tolkien movies, at least, would increase interest in fantasy. Any advice? Thoughts?

Apparently, I didn't read enough of this site before posting; there's already a thread dedicated to writers on the Watch. Sorry, didn't mean to create a duplicate thread.

Don't worry about that, we've never minded a bit of reposting or spamming, it all just adds to the fun.

Your life story would probably make an interesting autobiography once you're done with your fantasy work!

If you want to call this writing, I'm writing a screenplay. Well, more sort of adapting a book and screenplay, if that makes sense. Maybe this is a better way to approach it:

I'm writing a screenplay for Bored of the Rings, a spoof from the Harvard Lampoon that came out the same year I was born (1969). Obviously a spoof of Lord of the Rings, which means I'm not only including spoofs from that book, but also spoofing Peter Jackson's flicks. Which a year ago would have been a ripe time to have it done, but alas, I'm a slacker. I'm more than halfway through with the rough draft, although some of it has gone through a revision (the stuff that is basically Fellowship of the Ring, although I am tackling all three books/movies). It's one of the biggest things I've written, and it is going surprisingly well, which isn't to say that it doesn't have problems.

Cagliostro,

Good luck with that! I love Bored of the Rings, hope it works out well.

Bored of the Rings is great, though I haven't read it since high school; I wonder how it holds up.

Screenplays are pretty Lucrative, from what I understand, and much easier to write than novels. Easier to sell, too, since there's more money in movies than in books. I've thought about giving it a try myself after I finished this project. But who knows when that will be? I've got the plotting done for six books--two trilogies. One is s.f., the other fantasy. But they both happen in the same world. One is a reinterpretion of the other, turning the first one completely and utterly on its head.

Malik--ignore anyone who tells you it is a bad time to be a fantasy writer. It is never a bad time to be a writer of any kind.

I'm sure if JK Rowling had asked around, a lot of people would have pooh-poohed the idea of an orphaned wizard going off to wizard boarding school. And look how that's turned out.

If you write a good story--people will read it.

The hardest thing is getting an editor to take a serious look at it.

Even then, there are a lot of options--a lot of smaller publishing companies solicit new writers. It the book "hits," larger companies take an interest.

While I do dream of publishing...the joy for me is in the writing itself. And the internet is a wonderful gift because I can post up my stories and people read and comment on them. That's so much better than hiding them away in a drawer after I've written them.

Heh heh

Having a few fans is always a joy.



I WOULD be very interested in hearing about your book.

Hello Malik23

I've been writing sci fi / Fantasy since High School but have only recently taken it seriously. I have a published book of short stories (Folly's Challenge & other Stories) that I originally planned as a one shot POD Christmas present for my mother. It turned out pretty well so I decided to move one step higher and have the book published through Publish America. PA is not what I would call a mainstream publishing house but it got the job done. Folly is now available at several domestic bookstores including amazon.com and all around the world. The whole thing is pretty cool but I plan to go the traditional route with my next book and see how that pans out. Now if I can only find the time to write the bloody thing. Perhaps I spend too much time on Kevin's Watch to get any work done. Hmmm.....

i am writing an Epic Poem and a novel write now. hoping to self publish sometime in the next year or so. good luck with your work...

I've got an M.A. in fiction writing, but right now I'm not writing much of anything; my excuse is that I'm busy raising my kids, holding a full-time job, etc. My dream is to retire so that I can spend time writing without having to worry about getting it published to pay the bills. Of course, if that delightful turn of events were actually to come to pass, I'd have to come up with another excuse for not writing much of anything.

I wrote a dystopian novel while in grad school and had an agent ask me to send it to her, which I did. A few months later, she returned it with a note, apologizing that she'd never had time to read it. And I never got anybody else interested in it. Sigh.... It wasn't all that great, anyhow.

I've written a bunch of poetry (some won awards, back in the day) and two plays. I'm very private with them so never wanted to publish them. I do intend to write a fantasy, which is one of the sneaky reasons I became a teacher--so I could write in the Summer--now if I can just get off my butt and actually start!

I write when the muse speaks. When I'm not feeling intimidated, I post some in the Hall of Gifts, and at the times I'm able to conquer terror and doubt, I'm trying to get some of my short stories printed in genre publications, plus I have a book in progress - though I write slowly.

While I do dream of publishing...the joy for me is in the writing itself.

Yeah, it was for me for a long time, too. Now I need more. If nothing else, publishing would force me to stop revising the damn thing, and just call it "done." Now it feels more like an obsessive-compulsive habit than an act of creativity. Maybe moving on to the next book will reinvigorate my love for the craft itself. Right now, I need some resolution, and I think publishing is the only way to get it.

my excuse is that I'm busy raising my kids, holding a full-time job, etc.

Same here. That's another reason I need to get it published. Though I'm realistic about being able to quit my "day job," even after getting published, I'm hopeful. Having the day free to write would be such a luxury! Those of us who are still carving out small chunks of the day to further our art, working in virtual isolation, must either truly love it--or they're truly obsessed. Maybe it's the same thing.

Ah, the joy of writing.

I'm not sure I'd use that word.

I write because I must; because the stories come and if I don't tell them I'll lose them; because I feel most alive when I'm writing, and most complete when I have something in front of me I know I've written to the best of my ability.

I write a bit.

I mostly write fantasy. My current project, however, is quite far from the fantasy genre.

I pretty much stick to poetry. I don't have the persistance or tenacity or patience or whatever to develop characters and plots. Had a few of them published, nothing fantastic. Got a completed novella length manuscript, but I wouldn'd call it a book or a story. It's just...an opinion. Or rather, lots of them.

--A

I'm a lover, not a writer.

Heh, actually I do write a bit - mostly poetry & songs.

Malik23 wrote:Bored of the Rings is great, though I haven't read it since high school; I wonder how it holds up.

For the most part, it doesn't hold up. Some of the names are still funny (Spam, Dildo, Frito, etc), but others I have no idea what they are talking about (Serutan, Lavalier). Or maybe I just don't catch the reference. But I'm doing a pretty hefty rewrite, where by the time I'm done will have shades of Bored of the Rings, some more direct spoofs of Peter Jackson's films, and a heap of my own stuff playing off of everything.

And for fans of the book, I will be including Tom Bombidil and the Scouring of the Shire.

Hmm... I'm writing a fantasy novel, but I doubt anyone but me would read it. I'm the only one who likes what I write. I've been toying with sf, but that usually ends up as a short and mildly painful bit of rubbish. Maybe I should just stick to fanfiction, and finish the Pizza story.

Yeah, right. I'll never finish that.

I consider each post of mine to be a well thought out work of fiction. By the way, your avatar is staring at me; make it stop.