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Original poster

I want to write a book but I don't have a plot

56 replies

BumperliciousNeedsToSleep · 01/05/2008 22:01

I really feel like I want to write, I'd like to try a chick lit novel.

But I don't have a plot, not even sure that I can write, but hey, I'm not going to let that stop me (many others don't!).

I guess I'm just looking for some advice and inspiration.

OP posts:
Psychobabble · 03/05/2008 20:31

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

hatjam · 03/05/2008 20:33

i recently took my kids to see author robert muchamore talking about his series of books and he said that he had wanted to write for ages but it wasn't until he had someone he wanted to write for (his 12-year-old nephew) that he was really able to do so convincingly. he's a super mega bestseller now (and his first book only came out 4 years ago).
what do you write gracepaley?

southeastastra · 03/05/2008 20:35

isn't it better if they just have a go ud?

gracepaley · 03/05/2008 20:48

I write plays, poetry and kids' fiction.

gracepaley · 03/05/2008 20:49

Or go on an ARvon course, I know lots of people have been inspired by them, or SKYROS do them too, in a more hedonistic atmosphere........

UnquietDad · 03/05/2008 23:35

Of course there is always this approach to being a "writer": here

Gods save us...

Can't she just "renounce" doing anything else, at all, apart from retreating to one of her homes and doing yoga and raising her children? Quietly? Without telling any of us?

expatinscotland · 03/05/2008 23:38

Ugenia.

How u-nique.

FFS.

UnquietDad · 03/05/2008 23:48

It says something about our culture that GH actually has to make a point of saying (whether true or not) that she wrote them all herself.

Something else to take up space on the children's shelves and stop real writers from getting into the bookshops...

As for Bumper's dilemma, I'd suggest a writing course or workshop or two. Without a plot it can really be hard to make a book progress. I also heartily recommend this book (declaration of interest: I'm one of the 60-odd writers Jane quotes for tips!)

RosaLuxembourg · 03/05/2008 23:51

OK UQD, now I have unmasked you. You're Mil Millington, aren't you.

UnquietDad · 04/05/2008 10:05

Sadly, I wish I had Mil's regular column...

Cappuccino · 04/05/2008 10:09

UQD you have to tell me who you are so I can look at this book thing you claim to have written

after all I have agreed with you three times now

if you don't want to come out here I am at cappuccino dot mum at googlemail dot com

southeastastra · 04/05/2008 12:16

lol i knew that link would be for geri's er book

UnquietDad · 04/05/2008 22:19

cappuccino - you have mail

MNersanonymous · 04/05/2008 22:53

Oh UQD can you message me too and tell me who you are?

Quick thread hijack. UQD - what proportion of cover price would net receipts typically be?

Need to get an idea of how little I'm going to get per book sold....

UnquietDad · 04/05/2008 23:36

Depends very much on the contract you get. For hardbacks usually around 7-8%, for paperbacks 10%, but a wily agent will build "escalators" in so that a higher percentage kicks in above a certain number of copies sold. And then it;s complicated by the clause some publishers try to sneak in - which a good agent will scrub - stipulating that your percentages are on their net receipts and no cover price (i.e. so if the book is sold at a reduction, as part of a promotion, you get less).

Then there's foreign rights, etc., which can help a great deal.

I'm afraid I'm not signed up for CATting so people will either have to message me or do it cappuccino's way....

anorak · 04/05/2008 23:51

UD I want to know who you are now! Please be Michael Bywater - I've lusted over him since he wrote articles for Cosmo in the 80s and I met him once and he wrote me a fab inscription in my Bargepole.

And I love Robert Crampton too. My favourite Times Journo.

Quattrocento · 04/05/2008 23:55

I think what my friend did was to write anything, without a plot, just to start. The ideas cascaded as he wrote. He started writing something else and the old stuff is long gone and forgotten. There's a form of compulsion in writing I think which grips you when you get going. Good luck.

MNersanonymous · 05/05/2008 13:21

Sorry UQD - I might have phrased my qn in a confusing way (some writer hey - my excuse is I'm off duty now). I already know my % of net receipts as the contract was signed ages ago. It's more what proportion of the cover price net receipts might be.

Note that it was all based on net receipts but the % royalty is higher than the norm for cover price to make up for it.

Psychobabble · 05/05/2008 20:48

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

hatjam · 05/05/2008 22:50

i am SO intrigued

BecauseImWorthIt · 05/05/2008 22:55

OK UQ - you have whetted my appetite enough. I have to know, too, who you are!

I am thestarrs at btconnect dot com

Please tell me I have mail as well!

UnquietDad · 06/05/2008 00:08

MNAnon - sorry if I wasn't clear. I think that's what I was telling you! A standard contract has the percentages I mentioned - the royalty is 7-8% of the cover price on hardback, 10% on paperback.

BITW - mail sent!

Psycho - wonder which one? (I have three, or five if you count the series stuff. Plus three non-fic books.)

Tortington · 06/05/2008 00:14

read Catcher in the Rye

theres no fucking plot to that

anorak · 06/05/2008 00:41

Please humour me too UD. jan quinn 3 at aol dot co dot uk.

Thanks.

UnquietDad · 06/05/2008 00:42

I will but please don't let me hijack the OP's thread. She wants advice!

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