Thanks to this thread, I'm tackling the whole self-publishing process. Well, not tackling, exactly. But researching the subject. And good gosh, my head is about to explode. The only way I'm going to get any clarity is if I start a spreadsheet or chart and keep all the pros and cons organized. It'll take time I hadn't planned to invest, but I guess it's necessary. If I come up with anything useful, maybe I'll post it in the Self-Publishing forum.
@jannert The one person who made it most of the way through recommended fixing the beginning, because it seemed a bit confusing and a little blunt. Also made mention of a dream sequence that might not fit, due to the fact that they did not like dream sequences. Though they said only pull it if more people said to pull it. Overall they said that is was a good read, and I reminded them of their time in the service with some of the details. Another gave me the suggestion to label the characters as they show up, to make it less confusing to follow who is speaking at a given time. After taking these suggestions in kind, I did correct these things cause they were right. Of the three that actually cared to read it at all really did like one of the MCs, of the three in it. This is all aside the more minor details like spelling issues such as compound words not being compound. I have tried to limit the amount of language, cause I use to post snippets online and my father in law really did not like the language. So I went back on a word count/find and cleaned it up. Could not believe that I had use the F word 36 times, and manage to cull it back to maybe about 2 dozen or less. Have done a fair amount of research into making the environment at least believable, outside of the obvious fictional elements that are in the universe. I learned a lot of new facts about the solar system along the way in my research in writing the fictional one. And just for fun, I shared the first unedited version with all it's problems. And they said they like the depictions of gore in the action scenes. This individual is from before I was on the forum. I know it is not going to be perfect no matter how many times I take the hammer and chisel to it, it will always be the one that will still need fine tuning. Then again I don't think there is a perfect work of fiction out there, cause we all have things we have read that we would like to change based on our opinions and ideas.
Knowing when to put things down is a skill too. Knowing when to say 'this is done'. Imperfect, sure, but done. You can't ever create some Platonic form of a book. There will be flaws. War and Peace is just way too long, so is Les Mis. Shakespeare clearly doesn't bring his A game where there isn't a big dramatic soliloquy happening. That doesn't mean they aren't great. But perfect is a bit much and chasing it will go on for infinity.
@LostThePlot I know that is why I said that, admitting that perfection is an impractical achievement. I have it whittled down to where I am happy with it, and I did my best to cut out a ton of filler that has no bearing within the story. Don't think by the time the two halves come together, would even compare to the mass that is War and Peace. It is a kinda fast paced action/adventure type, but with some complex characters. One could say the characters drive the story forward.
In my case, it's been a matter of learning the craft. I have work "out there" but is it my best? No. Is it bad? Not terribly. Could it have used more polishing before being shoved into the world? Yes. But my stuff that's "out there" isn't really all that out there. I posted a short story series on Channillo, and that's been it. Part of the reason I don't have anything to offer up for self publication is because I know I'm not ready. By necessity, my writing has had to take a back seat to earning a living for my small family, that part of my life is about to change drastically, and I won't be able to use that as an excuse anymore. But where does that leave me? Over the last few weeks (about eight) I've decided that if I really want to tell stories that other people want to read then there are specific steps that I'm going to have to take to make that happen. I've already started implementing them, and I've also come up with a wider goal oriented plan for the next year of my life. So in my case, it's just going to be a matter of not holding myself back any more.
In answer to the original question my honest answer is that my writing needs to improve. That said, in the last year I have gone back to an old love and concentrating on drawing. The reason for this that a monthly graphic novel seems a good way to build up a following. I have 2 publishers that want to issue my work immediately but I am holding off because I feel that it still needs improving. Having won national awards in 2 countries, I have set myself high standards and wish to (perhaps unrealistically) maintain them. Regardless of that I will have something published early 2017.
