I’ve written about a two dozen poems, a dozen short stories and a short novel, first drafts only, for the most part. Never tried to get published; everything needs work. My productive period is about five years past, with little written in the meantime, and those old stories ain’t looking any better.
Can’t say my mind is in the same place, that ‘writerly’ place, and I often shudder with the certainty that it’s over. I can’t bear to actually believe it. It would be like losing a loved one.
But hope remains.
Interestingly, I see many of the posters are aspiring novelists who haven’t gone the careerist route of submitting short stories to literary publications, building up a resume of published works, and then shopping around for an agent to get a novel published. Most posts here are from those who have written a novel in private while working their ‘day job’, without having any experience in the world of publishing. I’ve read that a vast majority of being a published writer is the doing all the work of getting stuff in print, as opposed to the writing.
Another aspiring writer here. I’ve had 3 short stories published and I have about a dozen that are still in revision.
I also have three different novels that I have been working on for the past two years. At this rate, I expect to have one finished by the time I turn 80 or so (I’m 29).
I thought I was an aspiring writer, but I’ve come to believe I’m just someone with an overactive imagination that thinks better in print, if that makes any sense. I have a few ideas in the works, but I don’t seem to care about finishing them or if anyone will ever read them. Either the ideas aren’t that good, or I’m repressing myself due to fear of success.
Right now I’m in my ‘everything I write sucks’ phase, so I’m writing very little and editing with a chainsaw.
Why, oh why, won’t someone write the books I want to read so I don’t have to do it myself.
I write, but I’m not aspiring to be an author, per se. I contribute to a couple of web 'zines, and I’m a regular in my local Letter To The Editor pages. I’ve been published in three craft magazines (how-to articles and profiles of other artists).
There was some recent spamming here on the SDMB about some site for “creative people” that the mods stopped for various reasons. I had nothing to do with THAT, and I won’t spam, but - if anyone’s interested in a legitimate web 'zine with some good feedback for writers, email me (link below) and I’ll point you in the right direction.
I’ve been writing D&D games for 23 years, and I want to expand. I would like to know where I might find open workshops in which to participate and improve my writing. I’m definitely interested in science fiction and fantasy; but I’m willing to explore other genres.
My latest work is available on my message board. I’m interested in writing a video game; I’d like to write a story as the game introduction and play it out as a MMRP online.
I know I’m thinking big, but 23 years of D&D experience has to pay off in some way…
Well, if I can ever get around to it, I will be. I think. Of course, I’d like to have someone whom I trust to tell me if what I’m writing is good or not instead of just telling me that they love what I write. Make sense?
So far, so good, Cicada2003. I hope you brought snacks.
Tuckerfan - that’s what I am talking about. Feedback is a good thing, especially when it comes from other writers. I get lots of general praise from family and friends, who keep telling me I’m just “brilliant.” From other writers, I learn that I write too much in the passive sense, that my sentences are run-ons, that I have grammatical boo-boos galore, and so on. They also tell me when I’ve parsed a sentence that glows. It’s really constructive criticism in the truest sense! (Plus it’s a pretty fun little community.)
I have several poems published in teeny-weenie magazines that pay in copies and have devoted readerships of about 12. I switched to a fiction project about two years ago and have no idea if I can pull it off.
The problem for me is that there was quite a bit of historical and medical research involved before I could even begin the story. I love the research and find myself using it as an excuse to put the actual writing on hold. So, when I hit a wall in the narrative I skulk back to the library, check out a few books and pretend that it’s a necessary interruption.
Maybe I’ll finish the damned thing before senility sets in. Fiction seems to demand a different, more linear kind of concentration than poetry and at 47, my mind is wandering. Not to mention that, since I’ve discovered the SDMB, the avenues for distraction are endless. Thanks guys.
Yay! Lots of aspiring writers! Nice to see lots in the sci-fi/fantasy genre as well as that’s my own. My current work is a sort of Arthur C Clarke meets George Orwell.
You’re welcome to check out the resources linked to my site - don’t worry, you don’t have to join to use them - and hopefully some will be of use to somebody.
Exoskeleton raises an important point that does worry me - that of being a published short story writer first. I don’t see myself as a writer, just a novelist - but I’ve determined that if I have problems getting the current novel sold this year, then I get some shorts written up and published.
We’ll see how it goes, though - I’ve already got plenty of attention on the internet, with the soundtrack album having nearly 120,000 plays/downloads on mp3.com alone. And for an unpublished author I figure the fact that I can hold an online community around my writing has got to be worth something.
But…comrpomise is everything, it seems. I will do as the system demands.
Sorry, LifeOnWry, no snacks. But I have advice to everybody who is thinking about it. WRITE THE BOOK. Feedback is good but once you’ve gotten to the end, then you go back to what you wrote at the beginning and things look different (i.e., you can tell if it sucks).
I warmed up by writing about 150 short stories, none of which ever sold (not even to publications that paid only in copies) but I sold the first novel I ever finished.
In the 1960’s I was living at the YWCA on a really lean budget. So I did a few poems and short pieces and sold them. I didn’t submit any after that. The poems really sucked and were terribly sexist so they are an embarrassment to me now.
I write essays about childhood and the people I knew. They are not for publication though.
Chiming in belatedly. It is nice to read the experiences of fellow-writers.
I still consider myself an aspiring writer, although I haven’t worked on anything for the past year due to work on a dissertation. Although I enjoyed SF a lot when I was younger, my own efforts are strictly ‘high’ literature. Over the course of ten years I’ve written several short stories and started with a couple of larger novels for which I’ve done a lot of background research and written lots of fragments of varying size.
Occasionally I’ve tried to get something published, but as yet to no avail. In my own estimate (and giving the feedback I’ve received of others) my style is not too bad (I write in Dutch, so don’t judge me by this post); the problem is more with construction of the plot and the necessary labour of finishing the damn thing. I do feel that continually trying to write, and thinking about it has helped me ‘grow’ as a writer; it is getting easier to tell a story and find the right words to do so.
I do get the impression that, as several of the other posters remarked, an essential component of becoming a ‘real’, published writer, aside from some talent, is sheer perseverance. Still working at that, I suppose. Although I hope that Cicada2003 doesn’t mean that you have to write 150 short stories before you can get a novel accepted.
BTW, I have managed to get small opinion pieces (Great Debate-style stuff) and some legal and philosophical articles published. Literature however is an entirely different game.
:sigh:
I’m aspiring, to be an aspiring author. Thinking about that gives me a headache, I need an … sorry 'bout that.
Seriously, having worked as a journalist/columnist/radio mornig show personality for over 20 years, I know I have some of the stuff it takes. However, I can imagine scenes, scenarios, charaters, jokes, whole new worlds and concepts. I can’t seem to invent a strong plot. And if there’s no story to tell…
I was two-thirds the way through a novel when both my laptop and my home pc were stolen… no external backups! Aaargh!
Complete nightmare.
I’m about a third of the way through rewriting it, and I’ve found that it’s much better the second time around! I’ve paused that temporarily though.
I’ve had several poems published and a publishing house has asked me to compile a collection on the theme of “London”, so I’m working on those whenever inspiration strikes (usually on the tube).
I came 4th in the international poetry awards last year, and have received the International Poet of Merit award, but I’m not sure what that’s worth. Who knows, there could be millions of us!
There’s some valuable advice that Terry Pratchett told me a while ago… Always try to write at least 5000 words a day. It doesn’t matter if you got back and delete them all, so long as they’re written it helps.
5000? That was a typo, right? The story Terry Pratchett usually tells is that he used to (or still does) write 400 words every calendar day, no matter what.
