Yep. Once I get a part time job right now, I will then decide: Save up for a bit and go back to Korea to further my study of Go, attempting to become professional. Even if not professional, If I get a little better I can charge at least $20+ for teaching (already teach a bit, but charge modestly) and I can get good practice speaking in Korean there, which is something I want to do in university. Since Go is my favourite thing, this route doesn't seem foolish. -or - option 2: Just go straight to university. Write novels while attending university and hope to have a few finished by the time I'm done. By taking writing-related courses in university I can become hardcore with writing. Anyway, yeah I just gotta' write... I still don't even know where I stand as a writer at the moment in terms of skill. Hopefully getting my chapters critiqued will expose that.
Two thoughts - taking writing-related courses will not necessarily make you a publishable writer. And, if Go is your favorite thing, I do not hold out much hope for your ability to support yourself with your writing.
Well, in my future school years, I plan to focus on whatever I'm doing, which will be writing. I don't think juggling two things necessarily means I'll fail at at least one. Maybe juggling three things would do that. We'll see what happens... I have a lot of passion for writing fiction, I do not believe that having great passion for two things at the same time is impossible. I mean, If I compare how passionate about writing I am compared to someone who's life is writing, I don't think mine must be less just because I have an additional activity that I like just as much. I used to sort of think that way, but now I don't think things work like that. It's sort of like... When I was a kid there was another kid who practiced all day every day at Hockey, the sport that all the kids on my street played with each other. No matter how much he practiced, he wasn't able to get as good as me even though I never practiced and barely liked the game. Anyway, this seems to imply that my writing is superior, or that most people are bad at writing, but I didn't mean it like this at all. It's just that he once said "I'm better than you at Hockey" and I said something like "What makes you think that" and he replied "Because I practice more". It was clear that he was still the worst in our group though... I mentioned before that I think Go is the hardest career in the world to pursue, but in fact, there are people who went to university and played as professional players at the same time, even someone who was both a Go player and a lawyer. I understand the detriments of dividing one's focus though, so when the time comes, I may end up agreeing with what you said. After all, until now I had sacrificed everything - writing, martial arts, fitness, and video games, devoted most of my time, spent all my money and stopped seeing all of my non-Go friends, all for the sake of becoming a professional Go player. Of course, it's still not really enough, as most players started when they're 2-5 years old, in the perfect Go learning environment learning from pros and playing in competitive leagues. Even will power can't really match that. sigh... Thanks everyone ^^
flannery... i hope you won't mind my picking your brain, to give others here a more detailed picture of what's involved in actually selling one's books... what percentage of your total annual income comes from those 4 published novels? what kind of advance have you gotten for the 5th? have you had the same publisher for them all? how long ago did you start the first one? that's valid and valuable advice you've given this cart-before-the-horse-driven newbie... glad to have you aboard! love and hugs, maia i'd love to take a gander at your books... what name will i find them under on amazon?
Well I think cart-before-the-horse attitude, if I've made the correct assumption of what it means, is good in some ways, as it shows enthusiasm. I was like that with the game of Go, very naive, but I've been very successful anyway. As long as that naivety produces work ethic and diligence, should be okay for now ^^ I really like all the advice though, this comment is neither defense nor rebuttle, just a speculation. I know how it feels to be on your end, because I'm often on that end with Go. I met a kid who wants to become a pro player, and he's so infinitely naive and enthusiastic, exactly as I was when I was his level. It all depends on what's there to back up the enthusiasm. Work ethic, knack, passion, time and resources, patience. Many qualities must be cultivated, and not all of these things are directly or fully transferable from another hobby/livelihood.
I don't think it does any harm to learn about being an author and to set goals worse that happens is you don't make them. Having an idea of what the publishing industry and agents are looking for is not a bad thing. Having a work ethic about any career choice is not bad either. Not sure really why writing needs to be any different to anything else.
Hey, I do that! Some days 5 words per day, some others -- a negative number. Editing is productive: the first part of what I am working on is almost ready. The second part is mostly ready. But, at the risk of being rotten-egged, I'll bring up a software developers' cliche: either good, or fast or cheap. Never all three together.
Take some time to think about what you want to put into your story and once you know what you want to write then you'll find that your word count and writing speeds will increase. Yesterday I knew exactly what I wanted to put into a script that I'm writing so I was able to do over thirty pages in four hours. So a top tip is to think about what you want to write and you'll be faster then light.
I usually get about 3 pages in MS Word in a long session, if the story flows smoothly. Otherwise, it could be as hard as a single paragraph. It's different between writers. When I edit and proofread, I tend to skim through what I just wrote, to make sure the sentences and stuff flow well. Then I move on. At the end of a chapter, I edit the entire thing and this is where I start noticing spelling errors and continuity screw.
First, thanks. I may not be the best or most typical example for authors looking to be published, as I write in a fairly niche genre. That said, my third novel has sold over 10,000 copies so far (released in 2008), which isn't bad at all (especially given the whole "niche" thing). I was laid off from my full-time job last year and had to take a job that pays 66% my previous salary. My yearly royalties average about 10% of this new, lower salary. That means that about 9% of my yearly income comes from book royalties. I hope/expect that this will improve as I publish more books. I am also intending to branch out and begin writing in other, more popular genres. I may go the indie route with a book and see how that goes. I love my publisher, but earning a royalty rate of 8-12% per copy sold (depending upon total copies sold) isn't exactly fantastic. The challenge of going indie, of course, is that I will need to make the initial investments in professional cover design and editing, and of course do all my own marketing, whereas my publisher handles all that stuff for me now. It will be interesting to see how that little experiment turns out. My publisher might also be considered "independent" as it is not owned by a corporation, i.e. I'm not published through a large NY house. However, within the genre I write, my publisher is the largest. Within the past 6 months my publisher decided to start offering advances for the first time (many smaller publishers don't do this). The advance they offer is $1,000. Based on the performance of my last two novels, I will earn that out in the first full royalty period (I am paid royalties quarterly, but it can be 4-6 months after the release of a title before I actually see royalties from it). I published my first two novels through another publisher which is smaller than my current one. They basically had zero budget for marketing. That's been the biggest benefit of my decision to change publishers. My third novel sold more copies than my first two combined within the first six months after its release. And once I moved to this new publisher, sales of my first two titles (from the other publisher) rose dramatically based on the marketing/sales of the third. So choosing the right publisher is very important. I wrote my first novel in 2002 (completed my first draft on December 31, 2002, actually). Then I met my first professional editor, who read it, gave me some much-needing writing advice, and advised that I rewrite it in its entirety. So I did. Then I submitted it to what turned out to be my first publisher. I was assigned an editor, who promptly took me through an intensive editing process that basically resulted in me rewriting it again. Finally, it was published in 2005. It was an arduous process, but I learned more about writing while working on that novel than you can imagine. Honestly, I'm not comfortable posting my name/titles on this thread (for convoluted reasons, I've chosen to post under this screen name here and elsewhere anonymously), but if you're interested in knowing more, you can PM me.
You guys are making me feel bad about the speed thing lol....I normally write 500-2,000 words each sitting, but due to my high workload, sittings are by no means every day. I'm at 18,000 words and started my novel in June or July.
Literally, I can write a hundred words a minute, but when it comes to writing actual stories, it usually drags on a lot more. Parts of a story that I really like I'll write gladly (not that I ever check the word count, never found it particularly useful for creative writing), others I will struggle with and write ten words a day. I think trying to make a set requirement of written words per day would kill my creativity, so it's something I generally avoid. Depends on the day I guess, and the story. I don't care so much about the quality of the writing than the flow of the story the first time I write stuff.
I think that it all depends on how you work, and how you're able to work. I'm not able to write only one sentence, or one paragraph, or one page, to anything resembling a final quality. I need to turn my internal editor off and write what I'd think of as a "unit" - a blog post, a scene in fiction, a section of a technical document, whatever - pretty quickly and often sloppily. Once that's down, I can go back and edit and edit and edit, quite likely ending with something that barely resembles the first draft, and very often throwing away a very large percentage of what I first wrote. So when I'm writing, I'm spitting out a whole lot of words, but when you add in editing and what gets thrown away, the end result gets cut to a fraction of that output. This theoretically takes extra time, but that doesn't change the fact that I cannot do the initial creation when my internal editor is turned on. If I try, no writing will happen. So if you're like me, then worrying about quality in the first draft is a waste of time, not because it will take more time, but because nothing will _ever_ get written. But, of course, you may not be the least bit like me. Anyway, I'd say, write at a speed that allows the writing to come out, whatever that is for you.
I have to say that I write in much the same way you describe. Where I fall short is the editing process. it always seems as if editing the words somehow take away from the original power they possed when they first left my line in a stream of semi-consciousness. I suppose there may be some writers that can get it write on the firsat try. I am not one of them. I would welcome any ideas in being a better editor of my work.
Critiquing writing here will help you get a better sense for editing all round - and teach you to see the same sort of stuff in your own writing. Really the best thing you can do. Honestly. There's a reason we like active participation so much on this forum.
