(no subject)
I'm writing a lot these days. Most of it isn't exactly the writing I want to be doing, it's just stuff that's going to get me paid (stuff for ad-supported article-mill websites), but whether I like it or not, I have to admit that churning out a ton of writing a day on topics I haven't picked (and wouldn't have picked, probably) is really building my chops in a big way.
Following my mom's advice, I've recently taken to spending my first 45 minutes of writing every day on my novel. It's worked really well: I was blocked at first, but now this thing is really coming along well. 45 minutes is not a lot in itself, but when you actually do it every single day, it starts to become something.
I've decided to self-publish this thing once it's done, and that's really motivating me to get it done. I was really intimidated by the prospect of submitting this stuff for publication, especially considering that everything I've read on the subject says I need to publish short stories first if I ever want to publish a novel. But I don't write short stories. I just don't. I don't read them, either. I can't create a character or plot without wanting to write an epic story - it never seems fair to them, if that makes any sense.
Self-publishing used to be fairly ineffective, but this is a different age. You can gain a wide audience and fanbase without any help or permission from "The Man." What's more, in a time when everything that can be reproduced in an electronic format is being pirated and copied and shared, people are still willing to pay to support an artist. And while people can't get enough of words in electronic format, they still buy paper copies. And I have fine editors at my disposal (my mom and my sister) as well as a talented graphic artist to make cover art for me.
So here's the question I have for everyone on my flist:
Nearly every one of you is on my friends list because you discovered me as a writer. I may not be writing in fandom at the moment, or I may be finished writing in the fandom you found me in, but you've still kept me on your friends list. And as for those of you who are my friends here because I know you in real life, I know you all well enough to know that most of you are avid readers.
So...would you guys be interested in a free fantasy eBook? Audio book? Format for your Kindle or Palm Pilot or whatever? My plan is to make electronic versions available for free (with suggested donations), paper copies available for purchase, and then to do my damndest to start a viral campaign promoting it.
I'd be appreciative of any feedback/advice/requests/cheerleading you guys might have to offer.
To get you started, here are the opening paragraphs under a cut.
His name was Elsan. It meant "forgettable" in the Old Speech and was supposed to be a very honorable name. Elsan had always hated it.
Part of the problem, of course, was the difficulty of translating anything from the Old Speech into the English they now spoke on the western continent. Nearly all the words in Old Speech had lofty, noble connotations, making the language rather boring and unnuanced. English words, however, were insulting, funny, embarrassing, titillating...hell, the English language had words like "titillating" in it, which was evidence enough to prove the point.
Elsan, unlike most children, had started learning the Old Speech at a very young age, so he at least partly understood the value his name was meant to have.
"The virtue of not seeking glory," his grandmother had explained to him. "And the responsibility to do all that needs to be done."
Elsan didn't see why he couldn't do all that needed to be done AND seek glory. Certainly that seemed to be what everyone else believed in. Why was it okay for the other children to want great things, to be great and famous singers or poets or warriors, or even to win in a game of Pitball, but Elsan was frowned upon if he didn't seek always to be humble, content, and invisible?
Everyone in the village, it seemed, was in on the conspiracy to constantly remind Elsan, in exciting new ways and at every available opportunity, that his place in life was to be dutiful, but never ambitious.
His grandmother, of course, told him unceasing (and boring) tales of heroes with stunning humility, men who would save the world and all humanity from unspeakable dangers, then quietly go back to their daily occupations of shoveling horse dung or cleaning privvies without telling anyone. At first, Elsan had assumed that listening to his grandmother's stories was a form of punishment, but he later realized that they were somehow meant to inspire him.
There was not a part of his life that was untouched by the endless agenda to impress the meaning of his name upon him. When he was very small, his mother would hold him to her and say things like, “I love you with all my heart, Elsan, but you must understand that this is the love that any mother has for her child, not a love that you have earned.”
Following my mom's advice, I've recently taken to spending my first 45 minutes of writing every day on my novel. It's worked really well: I was blocked at first, but now this thing is really coming along well. 45 minutes is not a lot in itself, but when you actually do it every single day, it starts to become something.
I've decided to self-publish this thing once it's done, and that's really motivating me to get it done. I was really intimidated by the prospect of submitting this stuff for publication, especially considering that everything I've read on the subject says I need to publish short stories first if I ever want to publish a novel. But I don't write short stories. I just don't. I don't read them, either. I can't create a character or plot without wanting to write an epic story - it never seems fair to them, if that makes any sense.
Self-publishing used to be fairly ineffective, but this is a different age. You can gain a wide audience and fanbase without any help or permission from "The Man." What's more, in a time when everything that can be reproduced in an electronic format is being pirated and copied and shared, people are still willing to pay to support an artist. And while people can't get enough of words in electronic format, they still buy paper copies. And I have fine editors at my disposal (my mom and my sister) as well as a talented graphic artist to make cover art for me.
So here's the question I have for everyone on my flist:
Nearly every one of you is on my friends list because you discovered me as a writer. I may not be writing in fandom at the moment, or I may be finished writing in the fandom you found me in, but you've still kept me on your friends list. And as for those of you who are my friends here because I know you in real life, I know you all well enough to know that most of you are avid readers.
So...would you guys be interested in a free fantasy eBook? Audio book? Format for your Kindle or Palm Pilot or whatever? My plan is to make electronic versions available for free (with suggested donations), paper copies available for purchase, and then to do my damndest to start a viral campaign promoting it.
I'd be appreciative of any feedback/advice/requests/cheerleading you guys might have to offer.
To get you started, here are the opening paragraphs under a cut.
His name was Elsan. It meant "forgettable" in the Old Speech and was supposed to be a very honorable name. Elsan had always hated it.
Part of the problem, of course, was the difficulty of translating anything from the Old Speech into the English they now spoke on the western continent. Nearly all the words in Old Speech had lofty, noble connotations, making the language rather boring and unnuanced. English words, however, were insulting, funny, embarrassing, titillating...hell, the English language had words like "titillating" in it, which was evidence enough to prove the point.
Elsan, unlike most children, had started learning the Old Speech at a very young age, so he at least partly understood the value his name was meant to have.
"The virtue of not seeking glory," his grandmother had explained to him. "And the responsibility to do all that needs to be done."
Elsan didn't see why he couldn't do all that needed to be done AND seek glory. Certainly that seemed to be what everyone else believed in. Why was it okay for the other children to want great things, to be great and famous singers or poets or warriors, or even to win in a game of Pitball, but Elsan was frowned upon if he didn't seek always to be humble, content, and invisible?
Everyone in the village, it seemed, was in on the conspiracy to constantly remind Elsan, in exciting new ways and at every available opportunity, that his place in life was to be dutiful, but never ambitious.
His grandmother, of course, told him unceasing (and boring) tales of heroes with stunning humility, men who would save the world and all humanity from unspeakable dangers, then quietly go back to their daily occupations of shoveling horse dung or cleaning privvies without telling anyone. At first, Elsan had assumed that listening to his grandmother's stories was a form of punishment, but he later realized that they were somehow meant to inspire him.
There was not a part of his life that was untouched by the endless agenda to impress the meaning of his name upon him. When he was very small, his mother would hold him to her and say things like, “I love you with all my heart, Elsan, but you must understand that this is the love that any mother has for her child, not a love that you have earned.”