Anyone writing dystopian fiction?

[stripyeyes]

My novel is set in a modern dystopia, where the details of how society is ordered is gradually revealed.

The story centers around a young man and his boss, who has a not-insignificant power over him. She asks him to take actions which are increasingly morally and legally ambiguous and it is the consequence of this which makes the story.

My current issue is I've read the damn thing so many times, I've lost the ability to "see" what a new reader would know, and whether the implied threat is great enough to affect his actions. Does anyone have any tips? Or fancy a read?!

I'm reluctant to give it to friends and family to read at this stage due to all the usual issues regarding biased or kindly reviews!

That praised strong prose. Bloody autocorrect

Lots of typos throughout guys, can't see on this bloody device. I'm better than this, I promise!!

How is everyone doing?

Oh no, Cant - on both the iPad front and rejection front :( But at least they praised the strong prose... I think that's an excellent sign. Structure can be refined, but weak prose is much harder to edit.

DS has been refusing to sleep recently, so my evenings have been overtaken by wrestling him to bed (not quite literally, but not far off). I've just hit 60k though, so around 15-20k to go. HOORAY!

Sounds good Spider!

Summer hols getting in the way a little, but I've done some re-jigging of the plot to try and get the action going a bit quicker.

Found a very early plot outline the other day- nothing like how it's ended up which tells me a lot about the problems I'm having now!! Will definitely Plan my next attempt better.

My plan is to submit to about 10-15 agents in September with minimal expectation and then shelve it and start on the next one - a spin off, not a sequel - with the benefit of all the knowledge I've gained whilst writing this one

I've limped to 64k in the past week or so. Luckily DS has started sleeping again.

That's interesting stripy - I lost all my old plans on my old laptop. Probably not a bad thing - it was pretty week!!

And eek, exciting!! You never know...!

Waves to quiche-mates.

Work is still underway here. The series bible is finished and episode one ( incarnation 602). Still beavering away on episode 2.

I've also had the first round of comments back for my editor of the crime novel. But the next draft doesn't need to be in until mid October so I've parked that. I'll finish episode 2 in the next two weeks then start on the novel when the kids go back to school.

How's everyone getting on? All quiet over the summer, just like agents I got a rejection from the one with the full. On verge of giving up then someone rather lovely beta-read it for me and was very encouraging indeed (thank you ) so I felt less completely despondent.

How's the submission package coming stripy? I hate doing the covering letter! So hard.

Hello everyone!!

Well done Get! Sounds like you've been very productive.

That sucks, Mad. But don't give up! [insert oft-quoted stat about Rowling and rejections...]

I've hit 71k, which means I'm about 90% of the way there. Hoorah! However, we've just discovered I'm pregnant with DC2 - so it's a race against time before I become too hormonal to write anything

Oh congratulations Spider! how very lovely!

And well done for getting 90% there :)

Thanks Mad. Possibly a bit mad with only a 2 year age gap... .

Novel feels like a baby right now though!

Congrats Spider! I've got small age gaps (18 month and 2 years) and it's hard work at first but pays off when they're all older

And babies sleep lots in the daytime so plenty of time to write....

Awaiting some feedback from another reader and I did write a cover letter for first agent which was actually quite exciting!!

Congratulations spider.

As for age gap - I have 13 minutes. Do I win?

Thanks Get and stripy .

Get - yes, yes you do .

I'm hoping that I'll be able to edit/write during mat leave. Definitely need to take advantage of it this time around (since I'm a seasoned pro... ahem).

13 minutes definitely wins ;)

Mat leave sounds a good time to write, Spider - in theory, anyway!

I've sent to a couple more agents, so waiting with not so baited breath. Apart from that still ploughing through a line edit of book 2. My heart isn't quite in it at the moment, we're moving house soon so things are rather thrown into chaos. When we move though I am getting my own study - yay :) So I can turn it into a lovely writing room with lots of colours and pictures which get me in the mood. Will have to do actual work from there of course...

How's everyone doing?

I finished my novel three-ish weeks ago, now editing. Thank you for everyone who gave feedback; having spent a week away from the writing, I can now totally see what you mean(t) and I'm far happier with draft two.

I've started book two too. I know, I'm mad...

Hello... anyone still around?!

Wondering how you're getting on- Hope pregnancy is being kind Spider, and the second book is coming on ok.

Did the tv programme come to anything Get?

And how's the writing course going Mad?

Writing has taken a back seat to other things for a while, but my lovely husband surprised me for Xmas by getting my book printed! (Not published). So it looks like a proper book with a front cover, badly written blurb (he's not a writer and hasn't read it!!!) and my name on it!! It's quite exciting to have it in my hand and a lovely end to the 'project' as it feels like I achieved something, even if it's not good enough for agents/publication (yet!)

Hey Stripy! Still around... Not sure if sanity is intact.

On pregnancy number two... first one didn't stick (meh, these things happen) but this one's further along and so far so good. I've totally ignored book 2 since I posted, but editing book 1 is going okay...

That's an AWESOME present!! How incredibly thoughtful!!! Massively impressed.

Hi Stripy and Spider! Great to see this thread revived. Good timing too as want to get back into it all for the new year.

Stripy - great present! Did he get it done at CreateSpace? Such a great thing to actually hold your book! Did you hear back from any agents?

Spider - sorry to hear about the 1st pg but congratulations on this one! Hope you're feeling OK

Dh has bought me Scrivener for Christmas, I fear lots of hours playing with lovely new writing software rather than actual writing, but hey, it'll be good in the end... anyone use this?

Hi!

Sad and Happy for you Spider, hope all goes well from here on for you all. Enjoy the editing, I hated it initially but ended up being quite satisfying as you realise you're making improvements

He got it done through a site called Lulu- and only cost about £15 and his time so a bargain if any of you are interested in doing the same!

I got a round of rejections which I had totally expected, because I know it's not strong enough for publication. I do still have hope for my writing future though and will definitely write another when I get time....

Not used scrivener but read good things about it on here. Are you doing Book Three or a new novel altogether?

Hi stripy! I've heard of Lulu, sounds good, similar to createspace I think. Sorry about the rejections. But do keep writing! You have a real talent.

I'm working on a couple of non fiction projects at present but also on another fiction idea, have put the trilogy aside to rest for now. People keep saying I should self publish them but I'm not sure. For now I'll concentrate on these other things and see if they lead anywhere (one is ghostwriting so I'm quite excited about that)

My new idea is more contemporary than dystopian but there are elements that are similar. Not sure if it's a goer or not yet.

Do you have an idea for your next one?

Wave to fellow End Of Timers.

My dystopian project is still ongoing. There was a stall over money, but another company have stepped in (I have absolutely no involvement in any of this BTW - I just hear updates via the production company and my agent).

Of course new money men mean fresh eyes, which means more notes/changes. Everyone and his dog has a view on how this thing should look.

In other news, I'm doing the final edits on my latest novel. Not too painful.

I've also got past first pitch idea with a UK production company and have been asked to put together something concrete. It's not dystopian though. Completely different.

Oh gosh, that sounds frustrating Get. However, congrats on getting past the first pitch with the production company! Does that mean you have to get scripting?

How are you finding Scrivener Mad? I am sorely tempted...

Keep on plugging Stripy . Are you planning on editing and sending out again?

And ty for all the congrats. Edging my way into second trimester and finally feel human again. Hoorah!

It's not too bad spider in that I never ever thought the whole project would get this far.

I was always just tryain't my luck .

The good thing is that when pitch season comes around again next Summer, I will understand the process and be ready for the fray.

The pitch process is much more fluid here in the U.K. Production companies and channels take meetings as and when it suits them and what happens next doesn't follow any set pattern.

What is evident though is that you need a lot of irons in the fire to have any chance of seeing anything on a screen.

Sounds good that you've got past the first pitch, Get - it all sounds quite stressful with the fluidity of it all! Well done.

Spider - glad you're feeling a bit better, here's to 2nd trimester blooming! As to Scrivener, I did a tutorial on it yesterday when I finally had a moment, and was pretty impressed - I think it'll be especially helpful for my non fiction projects, just having all the notes and research all together in one place and so easily accessible instead of jumping all over the place, and using tags etc means you can find stuff easily. Will also be good for fiction for things like creating chapter outlines, honing characters etc and having all that info to hand. I'll report back when I've started using it proper!!