Writers Central

[Amanda Beth]

YA Urban fantasy

[Tornado]

I received a typeset pdf of my book this morning! Very exciting! I've got to go through and check it for errors.

[TwilightFan87]

Lynne- that's so exciting!!!

I've really been thinking about trying to start writing again (I wrote a lot as a teenager) and was wondering if you guys had any suggestions or writing exercises I could try?

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[Amanda Beth]

Honestly, writing fanfiction was what threw me into writing my own book. When the characters and background story are already created, it takes the pressure off of you as a writer and its a great exercise -- and Twilight and Hunger Games made it even easier because I truly LOVE the characters. I also never took my writing ability very seriously until I started to get these overwhelmingly amazing reviews. One girl said she printed out my alternate ending for Mockingjay and put it into her book and pretends that's how it actually ended. I was like oh uh, wow.

So yeah, I'd try that

[Tornado]

I find writing fanfiction more difficult than my own stories, because I'm using someone else's characters and have to operate within the confines of that world, which can be difficult, especially when delving into new territory.

I now have a release date for my book, The Heir: 1st June 2013! It was July when I arrived at work, but my publisher realised that that was in the middle of school holidays and there would be trouble with deliveries to schools if they want it, so it's been pushed forward a month. I will also soon receive an edit on The Crown, which is book two. Unfortunately, it sounds like there's quite a bit of work to be done to it.

[Amanda Beth]

That's amazing! How many agents did you query before you got a bite? I sent out a few queries (I was going to do them in batches) and when one said if I edit it I can resubmit, I read it (again) and began to see the weaker written parts -- and being that the book is at a good word count, I can afford to chop those chunks out. I had been reading it so much though, I decided to let it sit through NaNoWriMo (won't be making the 50k word count, but it was fun) and attack it with a fresher head in December.

[Tornado]

I don't have an agent, actually. I tried about 30 of them and only one even asked to see it (she rejected it). My break came when I started to work for a small publishing house in their non-fiction section and discovered that they did YA books, too. So I submitted my book. Six painful edits later, my book is about to be published.

[VirginiaMay]

This is a bit delayed, and somewhat out of order, but...

I received a typeset pdf of my book this morning! Very exciting! I've got to go through and check it for errors.

That's very exciting Lynne. Do you know how to convert your PDF to make it a MOBI for your Kindle? A lot of people use a program called Calibre for that, and I find it much, much easier to catch errors by reading a MOBI formatted doc on my Kindle versus a PDF or proofing on the computer. Although... at the moment, I'm having to proof my current editing project on the computer anyway because my daughter sat on my Kindle over Thanksgiving weekend & the screen cracked.

I sent out a few queries (I was going to do them in batches) and when one said if I edit it I can resubmit, I read it (again) and began to see the weaker written parts -- and being that the book is at a good word count, I can afford to chop those chunks out.

Amanda Beth, did the agent mention whether it needed a strict copy edit, or more of a substantive edit? I've been curious as to whether literary agents give these kind of clues when they suggesting you "edit and resubmit." Also, have you heard of Auto-Crit or tried it? It can be helpful, even if it's not a replacement for a real set of eyes.

I've really been thinking about trying to start writing again (I wrote a lot as a teenager) and was wondering if you guys had any suggestions or writing exercises I could try?

TwiFan~ I used fanfiction as a jumping off point, too. That was my first classroom so to speak, and I learned a ton from interacting with other more seasoned fanfiction writers as well as online readers. As for writing exercises in general, I've recently discovered this website, Writing Forward, and it might help if you just need a place to start.

[Amanda Beth]

Virginia May: The second one That site is cool, but I don't really want to pay $50 and copy/pasting 500 words at a time of an 85k novel is quite a task lol.

[Tornado]

Ginnie - my boss sent me a mobi version with the pdf, but I find it easier to make notes on the computer, and I didn't want to download it to my kindle when there are so many things I still need to correct.