Do any of you want to write a novel?

[darkness-is-the-light]

Do any of you want to write a novel? I know that I want to, well I am. I'm trying to get a career as a famous writer, I know a big dream but I have hope. Does any one want to do the same? Or do you have any tips for me if you want.

[March Hare]

Shit yeah, I'm all on it. One of the best inspirations for writing I've ever got is the book On Writing by Stephen King. He tells it like it is and his advice is sound. (Except perhaps the bit about "all adverbs are bad mmkay" because well, I think that's just not always true.)

One of my (and, incidentally, Mr. King's) most heartfelt and important tips for anyone who wants to be a published writer would be: READ ALL THE BOOKS. I mean it. In the words of the King: "if you don't have time to read, you don't have time to write." Reading is a way of learning the craft, of getting to know what works and what doesn't.

Also, NEVER neglect your language. If you don't give a shit about spelling, grammar and style, you'll never be a true writer. That shit matters, and anyone who tells you otherwise doesn't know anything about it.

Good luck. Writing a novel is hard work and can be painful, but it's joyous work as well.

[darkness-is-the-light]

Shit yeah, I'm all on it. One of the best inspirations for writing I've ever got is the book On Writing by Stephen King. He tells it like it is and his advice is sound. (Except perhaps the bit about "all adverbs are bad mmkay" because well, I think that's just not always true.)

One of my (and, incidentally, Mr. King's) most heartfelt and important tips for anyone who wants to be a published writer would be: READ ALL THE BOOKS. I mean it. In the words of the King: "if you don't have time to read, you don't have time to write." Reading is a way of learning the craft, of getting to know what works and what doesn't.

Also, NEVER neglect your language. If you don't give a shit about spelling, grammar and style, you'll never be a true writer. That shit matters, and anyone who tells you otherwise doesn't know anything about it.

Good luck. Writing a novel is hard work and can be painful, but it's joyous work as well.

Thank you, I love reading so that's not really a problem and I care about the spelling and grammar (I kind of want to correct everyone who has bad grammar but I can't lol). I think that it's a great opportunity to try, I'm going into honors reading and writing next year!! Yay (Sorry, not to brag ) Again thank you for the tips and everything <3333

[PegiiL]

DUH!

Of course I wanna be a writer I eat, breath and sleep books. No literally I do.

[darkness-is-the-light]

Of course I wanna be a writer I eat, breath and sleep books. No literally I do.

What kind of genre?

[PegiiL]

I want to write for every genre. I've written one for children I want to do one for teenagers and then one for adults. I also want to appeal to both genders and not focus on just one.

[darkness-is-the-light]

Ok, that's cool, I like to write kind of adult romance novels.

[Bondi]

I've finished 4 novels, though only 2 of those novels are ones I think I'd ever do anything with at all, and I'm working on another novel, which I guess would be my 5th, but its the 3rd one I'd ever consider doing anything with, provided I actually finish it. You pretty much have to write total shit before you can start to write stuff that's maybe any good.

I don't have any advice and since I'm not published I don't think my advice would be valuable if I had any. I've read Stephen King's On Writing, and while I enjoyed most of King's books, I didn't really get much out of reading On Writing, but if you want to read it, then go ahead; it won't hurt. Just remember that King himself does not follow most of the rules and guidelines that he espouses in that book. A couple of books that I'd recommend would be How Not to Write a Novel and Writing Tools: 50 Essential Strategies for Every Writer. Whatever book you do choose to read, just remember that everyone breaks some of the rules. Everybody uses an adverb now and then and it's more about thinking long and hard about why you need that adverb, for example. I'd also recommend listing to the Writing Excuses podcast as I have found it to be very helpful as well.

[darkness-is-the-light]

Thank you for the help and I wish you luck with your writing too.

[•.*°•☆. Q .☆•°*.•]

hi there, writer here, aspiring to be a published author. I recommend following neil gaiman's blog, he's a wealth of good advice.

[tma]

writer-ish person....

I don't like to say full out that I'm a writer because I don't feel like I've attained high enough quality to really say that (although.... some of the works of "literature" out there do occasionally make me wonder.... ).

I'm *starting* to get brave enough that I'm *thinking* about turning in some of my poems into literary magazines.

Might be an utterly crap idea, but...

Oh... and as for writing advice in general

Maru is spot on!! Reading is *huge*! Variety and quality I'd say are more important than quantity per say.

Experiment- try out new techniques and see if they work for you (while staying true to yourself).

Find really good mentors and beta readers- especially with longer works. There is only so much that you can proof yourself. Tolkien, CS Lewis and loads of other writers have been part of "writers groups" where they would read and critique each others' work.

You don't have to take every critique to heart- only you know the story that you want told. However, carefully consider the advice that you get- if you want your writing to connect with other people, you need to get an outside perspective. Of course *you* know what you meant, but will someone else?

Be open to growth. That is the trickiest thing I think. I wrote a set of curriculum (just sunday school stuff, but published by national company and that was cool )at one point in life and I remember that I had a lesson that I *knew* worked perfectly. I had used it, and the students were engaged and absolutely LOVED it. So... I used it. My editor sent back my rough draft- with that lesson eviscerated! It was a shock and I was hurt and angry and frustrated and crushed. But I followed what she said. (that type of writing- you're a *tad* bit more bound because curriculum has to all fit together). I came to realize later what I couldn't at first- that it *needed* to be different than how I first wrote it. I *knew* the lesson- I created it and had used it- I hadn't written it in a way that someone who wasn't in my brain could completely figure everything out to achieve what I wanted them to achieve.

Put thoughts on paper- even if they don't gel *now*- they might another time. When you look at the world, wonder, and ask questions you are on your way to having a writer's perspective.

Also, random recommendations- Ralph Fletcher's books about writing http://www.ralphfletcher.com/ ... also Annie Dillard http://www.anniedillard.com/

All the very best!

[murphy dee]

Oh man, this is my dream. I don't wanna be mega-famous like J.K. Rowling or anything (even though she's totally my hero), I'd settle just for being able to pay my bills and have a bit left over for some fun stuff.

I mostly love to write fantasy romances, but I also love sci-fi romances. Pretty much all romances. I find that I don't really enjoy telling a story unless there's a love angle, which I realize is pretty cliche, but well...if I enjoy writing it, someone's bound to enjoy reading it, right?

Also I found some REALLY wonderful writing advice the other day from Chuck Palahniuk (infamous author of Fight Club) and you can read the whole thing here. It really opened my eyes to the way I've been writing. It's advice I'll never forget - definitely worth a read and a re-read.

[doggo]

Probably yes. But not very soon I'm afraid. Currently I'm working on a short story, that is fun too!

On the topic of advice - I don't remember where I read it, perhaps it was an essay on some writer or another, but anyway, for writers it's important to live. As living is accumulating material. That's why many writers write their best stuff - or even, their first books - when middle-age or older.

Good luck!

Edit:

Oh, and with living, I don't necessarily mean travelling around the world or climbing a mountain, but the pretty ordinary stuff - if you can muster it up, write stuff down, the way you really experience it. Personally I view it as a chore, but I've accumulated so much material I couldn't possibly come up with by trying when doing this. Writing down exhcanges with people living on my street; jokes cracked and rants ranted; interactions with animals; and so on. If absolutely nothing happens in your life, write about nothing happening. You'll thank yourself later having all that very original material accumulated.

Edited August 1, 2013 by pig

[March Hare]

On the topic of advice - I don't remember where I read it, perhaps it was an essay on some writer or another, but anyway, for writers it's important to live. As living is accumulating material.

Oh, and with living, I don't necessarily mean travelling around the world or climbing a mountain, but the pretty ordinary stuff - if you can muster it up, write stuff down, the way you really experience it. Personally I view it as a chore, but I've accumulated so much material I couldn't possibly come up with by trying when doing this. Writing down exhcanges with people living on my street; jokes cracked and rants ranted; interactions with animals; and so on. If absolutely nothing happens in your life, write about nothing happening. You'll thank yourself later having all that very original material accumulated.

This. This all the way.

[Shay]

I once started writing a novel many years ago and after I got about four chapters done I lost it, and everything else, in a computer crash. So my advice is to always back your writing up. I pretty much gave up on the novel after I lost it just because I felt I'd never be able to fully recapture from memory what I wrote the first time.

A part of me is still sad that I lost it, but it's probably for the best because I discovered over the years that I have absolutely no desire to become famous. I'm a very private person and the thought of being publicly recognized all the time absolutely terrifies me.

Another thing I'd recommend is that when you've got a novel finished and published, either through self publishing or with an actual publisher, that you join a reading social site such as Shelfari. Shelfari has various groups for all different kinds of book genres where people discuss the books they are reading. Many of these groups have dedicated topics for authors to promote their books.

I'm not sure how many sales authors make this way. So far I've only purchased one book that I saw promoted in one of these topics, but I put several more on my Amazon wish list. I probably would have bought them all right away though if Amazon didn't have this stupid thing where you have to purchase all ebooks(and all digital media for that matter) separately rather than bundling everything in a shopping cart for a single purchase.

If you do join one or more of these Shelfari groups for the purposes of book promotion, try to participate in some of the actual discussions too. It can rub some people the wrong way if an author joins a group solely for the purpose of book promotion without really being active in the group.

GoodReads and LibraryThing are also some good social reading sites, but I haven't really done much with groups on those sites so I can't tell you if groups there tend to have dedicated sections for book promotion or not.

[Heavy-Chevy]

Hey a fellow NJ writer! I'm actually in the process of finishing up my first full length novel. I do hope to one day be a successful author because I have several ideas for potential books, mostly sci-fi. Plus I've also had the lucky opportunity to take classes and learn from a couple of already published authors, including the man who wrote "Indecent Proposal," which is a bestseller and was made into a movie years ago. If you want any writing tips, feel free to ask me.

[doggo]

Oh, and as mentioned before here, try to find a writers' group. Reading your texts to others and getting feedback is the best way to "unblind" yourself to your own texts.

Courses can be good, but they tend to cost a lot of money and it can be hard to tell who would be the right one to teach you. Writing tends to attract all these self-proclaimed guru-types with egos size of a zeppelin and it pretty much comes down to luck if they're going to help you or not. Even if they are good writers themselves doesn't mean they can really teach or criticize your text in a fruitful manner enough to justify the cost. I'd actually advice you to take people who like to talk with authority about the texts of others with a grain of salt. I used to attend a writer group when I was teenage, and the man leading that group was a total egomaniac and liked to make new people cry with over-harsh criticism and jeers. He taught me a lot about the basics so for me it was a good deal but some other people were just totally demoralized and left in all silence. I wonder how many people he put off writing alltogether. And in secondary school I had a creative writing teacher who was way, way too lenient. One couldn't really get much out of her in the end. What these two had in common was that they were both blatantly pushing their own idea of good poetry (by that time I was writing a lot of poems) and now when I look back with a perspective of an avid reader and near-MA in comparative literature I can tell they were full of shit in that respect.

SO when it comes to teachers, courses, and such - I'd advice you to seek for a comfy group where to get some criticism so you can get rid of the most obvious amateur mistakes and bad habits, but just that. Later on it's good to steer off guru-types unless you're lucky enough to find someone who understands you and doesn't try to control you too much.

Edited August 1, 2013 by pig

[darkness-is-the-light]

Thank you everyone for everything and I wish you all luck with what you're doing.

[SapphiraNN]

Omg, i just posted about my dream to be an author before seeing this post! Wow, I feel really satisfied with this site! Not only does it satisfy my sneezing fetish but my dream career for life. This is wonderful. My inspirations for my work are many but a good start would be J.R.R. Tolkien

[darkness-is-the-light]

Omg, i just posted about my dream to be an author before seeing this post! Wow, I feel really satisfied with this site! Not only does it satisfy my sneezing fetish but my dream career for life. This is wonderful. My inspirations for my work are many but a good start would be J.R.R. Tolkien

I wish you luck! What genre are you writing?

[SapphiraNN]

Omg, i just posted about my dream to be an author before seeing this post! Wow, I feel really satisfied with this site! Not only does it satisfy my sneezing fetish but my dream career for life. This is wonderful. My inspirations for my work are many but a good start would be J.R.R. Tolkien

I wish you luck! What genre are you writing?

it has many different aspects of genre but I classify it mostly as fantasy. -and it will have lots of sneezies

[darkness-is-the-light]

Omg, i just posted about my dream to be an author before seeing this post! Wow, I feel really satisfied with this site! Not only does it satisfy my sneezing fetish but my dream career for life. This is wonderful. My inspirations for my work are many but a good start would be J.R.R. Tolkien

I wish you luck! What genre are you writing?

it has many different aspects of genre but I classify it mostly as fantasy. -and it will have lots of sneezies

Ok, cool. I write a lot of romance and I love writing hurt/comfort, I find it so adorable. I love writing fetish wise but I'm afraid that if I become something big like my dream people will find out I don't want the whole world to find out about my fetish, so I guess that's a fear. Also would you be going by a fake name or your real name? I'd kind of be going by my real name but my last name would be the Polish way. I'm kind of afraid of someone finding out and my name would be out and with school people would be harassing me, have you ever thought about that with the public or whatever? I'm so sorry that I'm just rambling on *scurries away*

[purpleninja]

Already did. I've written a few, actually.

[Bondi]

Also I found some REALLY wonderful writing advice the other day from Chuck Palahniuk (infamous author of Fight Club) and you can read the whole thing here. It really opened my eyes to the way I've been writing. It's advice I'll never forget - definitely worth a read and a re-read.

That is some really good advice and while I am probably not a good enough writer to follow it 100% of the time (the word "wonder" currently shows up in one of my novels 72 times), it is something that I will be mindful of, at least in the revising phase. In any case, why am I replying to this? Well, when I read through the above mentioned link, I wanted to check on Palahniuk's work to see if he follows his own advice, and after checking the amazon.com search through a book feature and searching a few words like "wonder", etc. in Fight Club and Invisible Monsters, I found that it looks like he actually does follow his own advice, unlike other authors that have been mentioned in this thread, so I definitely respect him for that.

[Sophie<3]

Hey! I don't have a lot of time right now. Maybe I'll return to this thread for a longer and more detailled reply. As for now, yes, I am a writer, too! Even though I'm pretty young (turned 17 this summer), I've written three novels so far. I used to be crazy about writing and spent most of my time with that. After my last novel, which I wrote at age 14, that stopped because I have so much to do for school. I just revised that novel, because I have an offer from a publisher and look forward to publishing it soon! My best advice and my personal motivation for writing is: Write exactly what you would like to read! (At least that works out for me, because I work hard to create something that I, personally, would consider a good book and something worth reading!)