.......sometimes it has to be done. So here goes my first entry on the forum. Great if it makes people laugh, if it makes anyone cry then I'll be a bit more worried! I was wondering if writing has the elements of a process to it? I haven't lost belief in my characters. I know them like I know myself, what makes them happy, sad, angry. I even know their favourite things to eat. Which when you consider they're 3 goats, a bat, a cat and a magpie is quite ecclectic. What I've lost faith in is myself and my ability to ever be published. When I finished my first book I rode a tidal wave of self belief, which has evaporated. Is this normal?? Take today. I'm on leave and should be creating and crafting a covering letter to publishers. Instead I'm considering ANYTHING else I could do, up to and including cleaning my bathroom with my toothbrush. Help! Please...... xx
Being published requires a tremendous amount of effort and probably an equal part of luck. You should not worry about that as being published should not be your main motivation for writing. Most of today's best known writers had to go through several rejection letters before getting their work out there and probably would have quit if they did not feel the urge to write. That being said, welcome to the forums and I hope you find what you seek.
Thank you for replying Rebel Yellow and stating something SO important. While I do want to be published as I'd love the rest of the world to get to know my characters. it wasn't my main reason for witing. This was to get my characters out of my head. It was getting very crowded up there, there really wasn't much room for anything else, sensible practicle stuff like what's for dinner tonight!
You start submitting because you must, and in writing you must write as though your book is the absolute best in the world. You're a writer, a master of words - you can write like you believe in yourself even when you don't, and that is what you must do. Btw what you're experiencing is very normal. I've just finished my novel and am drafting my stupid stupid stupid query letter - the dreaded plot paragraph. I have a draft of a synopsis that's nowhere near good enough. And the more I try to sum up my novel the more I'm truly worried that my plot just isn't strong enough, or good enough, or interesting enough. It's a fantasy story where the main plot is actually my MC's internal journey to redemption, and nothing really about action, adventure or magic at all - and his internal journey is relatively insubstantial that consists of a series of random surreal conversations. Ahh, see what I mean? I don't believe in my novel anymore than you do, probably. And yes I'm on this forum because I'd do anything but write my DAMN QUERY. I've written that plot paragraph about 20 times now. It's still not there. Everywhere the consensus is that a query should be only 3 paragraphs, of which only one should be about your book. And then I look up query samples that agents have liked and they're all inevitably 2-3 paragraphs long. It's like, WTF? But then I just read a reputable agent writing that even sending your damn query in on a sheet of A4 paper "marks you as an amateur" and may get you a rejection before the agent even starts reading. I'm sorry, that's just frigging ridiculous and if that's how that agent works then I'm not sure I wanna work with someone as petty as that - or perhaps someone with so little time that he can't get past filtering authors by the size of the paper used.
Thank you for your lovely words Mckk. Things like the query have been frightening me much more than the story itself did. I've decided, I'm going to start my query this afternoon even if I only get one sentence down. Good luck with your query letter too, and with those publishers! xx
Hold your breath, make a wish Count to three: Come with me and you'll be in a world of pure imagination This should be the first song you hear when you enter the forum. And you should hear it from me.
Welcome to Writing Forums, raggiedoll! I hope you find what you're looking for here, whatever your interests in writing. This forum aims to provide the best workshopping resources on the internet, and to that end we have a few rules which you should familiarise yourself with before you get stuck in. The main section of the site is the Writing Workshop, where members can post their writing in order to receive critique of their work. However, before we allow members to post their work, they must have met some basic requirements. Firstly, you must have been a member for fourteen days, and have made twenty posts on the forum overall (please note, posts in Word Games do not count towards this). This is so that members, when they post their work, have familiarised themselves with the forums and contributed to them (as well as hopefully learned something for themselves). Secondly, members must provide two constructive reviews of other people's work for each piece of their own that they wish to post. This is because we believe that the focus of workshopping should be equally upon giving reviews as receiving them, as they allow a writer to practice and improve their editing skills, which they can then apply to their own writing. Beyond the Writing Workshop, you will find that we have extensive forums for discussion of aspects of writing, as well as a community area for general discussion. We also run periodic short story and poetry contests, which are good for challenging yourself and expanding your skills. The requirements of the Writing Workshop don't apply to the contests, so new members are allowed (nay, encouraged!) to get stuck in and enter! If you have any questions or problems, then the moderators (myself, Lemex and Dante Dases) should be your first port of call. Any technical problems with the site itself should be directed to Daniel, the site administrator and owner. I would recommend you have a look over the rules so that you know what to expect, and what is expected. But aside from that, I hope you enjoy your time here. Banzai
