Please come and talk to me. Just for some general writing chat and support...

[BiglyBadgers]

I am about a third of the way through editing my stupidly long book (this'll teach me for writing epic fantasy) and need some chat!

I really loved the chat and support on the nano thread, but now novel writing month is long gone and I am alone! There must be other people out there bumbling along needing a friend to chat to...surely....I can provide coffee, cake and excellent free WiFi

This thread was supposed to help with focus

Sometimes you just have to prioritise the important stuff Queen

I was editing today and realised I have clearly foreshadowed zombies for a later book. Book three is now going to be set in a zombie wasteland. I am pretty excited.

Amusingly I've gotten 4000+ words of not-zombie-detective-fiction out today. I'm starting to think tactical procrastination is my friend

I am also excited for your zombie book there needs to be more good zombie fiction out there.

Glad I've inspired something undead

We should be able to drum up some readership on MN. They come to a zombie thread like moths to a flame

In the interests of research no have spent my audible credit on World War Z. I have to finish the editing on this book and then write the next one, so as to get to the point when my characters will have to cross the zombie wastelands. Figure that gives me a bit of time to swot up on the genre and come up with some good fantasy/zombie cross over that isn't too Game of Thrones.

If you need a reader Queen I'm here for you.

I think this may have now turned my series into at least 4 books...

Still cracking on with not zombies but I'm thinking about it It is a ghost story this one and I can't seem to stop the clichés piling in but it's quite fun writing not knowing what will happen. It's a bit like reading a novel with someone spoilering each page just as you start it

Need advice. At the end of a story, 25k, and I'm really struggling to finish it. The two main characters are currently separated but come back together at the end. Its the bit where they are separate I'm struggling with, just lost joy in it and trying to get through plot. Help!

See, not knowing what you are doing is fun

I edited chapter 9 and got a good bit done on chapter 10 yesterday. Only 11 more to do!

Poo...that post was for Queen. Didn't mean to sound mean about your dilemma Honey!

I think you have to just plow on through Honey. I found setting a timer for half an hour and just sitting and writing until it went off helped. Then take a break and do it again. I just wrote stuff and didn't think too much about whether it was any good. Of course I can tell now I am editing which bits these were as they need a lot of work, but it's easier reworking something than trying to get it perfect straight off.

It is fun but I'm probably doing more planning than before 😂 am having endless conversations about minute details.

Honey, have you gone back and examined what's going on to see if something isn't sitting right? I sometimes get a bit lost when something is off and I haven't noticed yet Not sure if others have this problem. Other times I just struggle to write in which case I would struggle out what I could and come back later.

How early do you all have people read your work?

And congrats on the progress Bigly

That's a good point Queen. I sometimes have an idea of what I think will happen and then when I get to writing it I just can't because it is inconceivable that the character would actually act in that way. I then have to go back and think about what the character would do rather than what I want them to be doing.

Not a single soul has even glanced at a sentence of mine yet. I am very shy about sharing my work. I do have a couple of people I have told I am writing this and have said they would like to read it. I'm going to try and be brave and let them have it once I have finished this round of editing.

I think someone up thread said they had shared their first draft couple of chapters before they moved onto the rest of the book. I was very impressed.

I thought about sharing with a couple of people once I've hit the 10,000 word mark but then had second thoughts. I don't mind if they read it but I can't decide if it's better to tackle any big problems early or see it through and get feedback on the whole.

Ive had a think and decided the bit i was struggling with was because it was one way for the story to go but didnt illustrate what the characters needed to do. So i need to rewrite a chapter or two but its a lot more interesting

Mines a fanfic by the way. Its up there for people to see which is good for feedback but pressure when people are saying they are desperate to know what happens next!

Gosh. You are both awfully brave. I really need to get better about showing people my work and stop being silly about it. Maybe this will be my resolution for the next year, along with learning to write steamy sex scenes, of course.

Desperate enough to pay you, Honey? I've seen a few blog stories work like that where the writer releases an installment regularly and then a bonus if donations reach a certain amount.

Bigly, I've had The Fear since ever I could give you a hundred tips but I think the biggest impact was reluctantly letting someone read the dirty stuff. I was so wound up about it I was pacing and almost cried. Then they looked up and said... "it's fine." It was such an anti climax I can't bring myself to get worked up about anything since

LOL this isn't for money, it's play time. My goal is to write my first novel by the end of the year and fanfic is getting me back into how to structure and plot etc. it's in first person, which I won't write any bigger pieces in but it is fun.
There is a certain expectation for smut in fanfic, which has proved quite challenging to write without wanting to hide under a table.

I have a suspicion with smut that how much you want to hide under the table correlates to how successful it will be

Hmm, yes and no. If you are cringing and shuddering when you are writing it, it might come across as remarkably authentic... or it might have the reader cringing along with you.

I'd love to join, please! I've been putting it off for so long but have decided it's either this year or never for me. I like a deadline

Do join us WooWoo! What sort of thing do you plan on writing?

Thanks badgers! Well, I always had a crime novel I wanted to do and feel that's just there waiting to be written down (mostly gets done in my head on dog walks!), but I have a fictionalised memoir too which is obviously a totally different genre.

I do write as my job (ghostwriter), but have held back on doing my own for years now. I think part of the problem is that - if it did get published - I would absolutely hate any attention/publicity. I know that's running ahead but my head focuses on it so much . It's not shyness or lack of confidence - I guess it's seeing other people do it and knowing how much I would hate it!

Ooo...what sort of stuff do you ghostwrite? If I'm allowed to ask...

I have always been a bit fascinated by ghostwriting and impressed by the ability to write in someone else's voice with their views and feelings rather than your own. I've always thought it's a real skill to be able to do it convincingly.

I know what you mean about the promotion and publicity stuff. It seems writers have to spend half their time performing these days. Not just in person, but on social media as well. It makes it really hard for writers who would want to keep their writing life separate from their non-writing life as I would. I wonder how you can do this when as a writer you are expected to become a sellable brand in your own right.