Anyone up for a novel writing support thread?

[Cel982]

Just thought it might be nice to have a place we could give each other a kick up the bum cheer each other along as we try to get our novels written.

I'm currently on the eleventy-hundredth draft of my first novel - hoping to have it ready for submission in the next month or two. Have been stuck on a niggly plot point for the last few weeks but had a bit of a breakthrough the other night so now the words are flowing again. Am a SAHM with a toddler at the moment so all my writing is done in the evenings when I can tear myself away from the TV. I know, I'm inspiring

So... you?

40000 is impressive lost! I just did a count and am at about 7000. I was expecting it to be less though so feeling pretty good about that.

I seem to still be lurking
Oops
Beginning to wonder if I should start a new project, this novel is something I thought of years ago so that might be why I lost interest again.

I was looking at the schedule for the London screenwriter festival, it looks fascinating but I don't have £400 going spare! Presume that cost is designed to deter casual attendees just fascinated by the craft.

Come on, Lorelei! You can do it!

Whoop! Go Lorelei!

Hi all, haven't checked in here in a while! Still plugging away at my novel, have about 66,000 words so nearly there. Did my cover letter and synopsis this week and quite happy with those - now I just need to get the MS up to the same standard

Oooh, I'm in the same boat Cel!
I've almost (So freaking close!) finished the first draft of my manuscript - 76000 words. It's a bit short for my genre (Crime/mystery), but I'm hoping to bulk it up a bit in later drafts. I'm finishing it today, and sending it to DH to have a read through. I'm so proud of myself evenifitsawful

Well done everyone! I always check on this thread when my motivation is low, the thought of you guys all out there working away inspires me

Congratulations, Chequered, that's great news! 76,000 is lots Mine's lit fiction so I think I can get away with a lower word count - I'm expecting it to end up somewhere around the 70,000 mark. Hope your DH enjoys it!

Part 2 of mine is all done and uploaded to Amazon.

I'm thinking of putting part one on for free over bank holiday weekend.

I'll be starting part three on Sunday.

Well done to everyone who's getting closer to the end and yes Lorelei, keep writing!

76k sounds good, Chequered - my YA is over 90k and I think too long

I find the holidays so difficult for writing - we're all out of routine and there are kids hanging around being Grumpy Teenagers. Should give me an excuse to hide away and just get on with it, really.

Lorelei - keep going! You can do it.

Sounds like a lot of you are nearing the end - well done! Are you planning on seeking an agent or just going for self-publishing?

Nearly September - good time to start getting down to it again.

Oh well done Soo! That's great - hope it does well! Can you link here?

Madhairday, I think JK Rowling's got young people used to reading very long novels - that sounds a great length!

Just realised, that's the book I read, isn't it? It certainly wasn't too long, if so! Not long enough, in my opinion!

Oh Imperial you're too nice to me... I'm a bit lost with it all atm as the agent with the full rejected it and nothing from anyone else... Tumbleweed. Close to jacking it in. Still working on second and third books in trilogy though..

Not too nice at all! I've PM'd you.

Thanks, Mad.

I'm not working atm so have no budget to advertise and I'm really bad at blurbs, so I doubt it will do much at all, tbh, but one can dream

Are you allowed to link your work here? I thought it was frowned upon. I'd be a bit nervous to post it in case you all hate it!

if you search amazon for Soosie Humanity it comes up but if you hate it don't tell me

Soosie Humanity? Nothing comes up, Soo. You can link your work if you like, or send a PM!

Oh, it does on mine, probably because I've searched for it so many times trying to work out keywords

book one
book two

Great to hear that everyone is getting on with stuff - this thread is giving me a bit of a (badly needed) kick up the backside!

I also seem to be lurking

I'm having a bit of a writing slump so have gone on Amazon and ordered a bunch of fantasy books to get my self back in the fantasy frame of mind. At the very least I have stuff to read on holiday.

and slinks back out.

May I join in please? I've just finished the first draft of a contemporary romance (92,000 words) and have sent it to a beta reader and I'm busy planning a historical romance which I'm hoping will be good enough to pitch to Mills and Boon.

Well done Diamond!
Impressed.

Hi everyone, can I join too? I think I'm about to accept defeat on my current book and move on to a different project. I've done about 60k words but it needs to be at least 20k longer and it's only going to get shorter in the editing! For some reason there just doesn't seem to be enough of a story there. Bit gutting, but feel like I'm flogging a dead horse. At least my other project is part done, about 70k though with no beginning or end! I wrote it before my baby came along. He's 16 months now and I'm desperate to get back into things. I've self-published one book already, albeit to crashing silence. (That was also before baby came along. Everything ground to a halt after that!) Onwards and upwards, eh?

Very impressed by the 70k words "Tippety".
I'm on 35k and it seems like a massive slog at the moment.

Bold fail.

Lorelei for what it's worth I wouldn't necessarily recommend LSF, and certainly not at that price. If you're going to network with production companies, very few of them will accept scripts unless you have an agent anyway, and if you're going to learn about the craft there are better ways of spending £400 on doing that, IMHO. It's mainly fun for meeting and having a drink with fellow screenwriters.