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Original poster

Anyone writing a book??

124 replies

mrsmalumbas · 10/05/2007 17:48

Hi all

Has anyone out there written a book (novel)? Or in the process of writing one?

I have always had this feeling that I have a book inside me somewehere, but I'm not sure how to go about finding it!

Would love to share tips/ideas/experiences with other budding authors.

OP posts:
RubyRioja · 26/05/2007 13:43

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

filthymindedvixen · 26/05/2007 13:56

Can I join? I can't write when I'm happy but this year is providing me with some angst to suqeeze those creative juices? Dh and I have come up with a fab screenplay idea....we both need a serious prod though.

I keep writing short stories but I seem to lack the staying power (or commitment for anything longer.

RubyRioja · 26/05/2007 14:31

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Message withdrawn at poster's request.

singingmum · 26/05/2007 14:51

need guts because of low confidence.I write quite a bit when I can although haven't had much chance lately.Been rather busy with everything else.
Anyway am going to try to make time for this.Might help to be able to get others opinion for all of us as might encourage each other to work at it

Kathyis6incheshigh · 26/05/2007 19:33

OK Singingmum, we are going to get you to send something off to someone.

Your mission is to get a rejection slip, preferably several. You know that no-one can ever be a proper writer until they have had loads of rejection slips. Everyone knows about J.K.Rowling being turned down by loads of agents. Sylvia Plath used to get them for Ted Hughes (ie she was doing a lot of the work of sending off his poems).

You have got to get one.

It won't take you long - if you have some stories you have completed you just need to print a couple out and send them to a likely-looking publisher or agent (look in Writers Handbook). No cheating by sending something to someone completely inappropriate, of course - the rules of the game have to be that they do actually consider the type of work you are sending them.

The odds are that it will just be a pre-printed rejection slip, but you never know - it might just say something like 'although your manuscript showed some promise....'

Up for the challenge????

ps alternatively you could enter something in a competition - that would count instead.

singingmum · 27/05/2007 11:46

I'll see what I can do.
The odd thing is I have had poetry printed but only by such people as poetry.com etc. and one or two others .I don't seem to mind sending that off.
Wish me luck.I'll let you know if I do it and when the rejection slip appears

Shrinkinglily · 27/05/2007 12:21

I made a childrens book with my ds1 years ago. I sent it to 3 or 4 publishers and I got a couple of really nice rejections
Then I sent it to a friend of a friend of a friend 'in the know' to look at and she tore it to shreds. There were so many points that I may aswell start again with that one. I would still like to make it work somehow but need more experience I think, so I'll go back to that one when I've done more other stuff!
Getting rejections isn't too bad anyway.

singingmum · 27/05/2007 12:31

I seem to have this unreasonable fear of being told it's no good and to just give up.I have shown work to people like friends and family who I know would tell me if it's shite but so far all I have is people telling me they like it.I really must try now though as I have wanted to since I could read.

pillowcase · 27/05/2007 16:35

hey this thread is sending my mind into overdrive.

planning.

I'm thinking that I'll do some exercises from now until the end of the school hols, and then set to really writing in sept (first time all 3 kids will be gone to school, ds for mornings only)
... and obviously work on my ideas over the summer too ...

i really hope this thread keeps going. as i said before i'm going to do pudding's exercise, i'm going to.... as soon as I .....

pudding77 · 27/05/2007 17:32

lol pillowcase, I keep putting it off too!

Shrinkinglily · 28/05/2007 08:14

singingmum, I was afraid of that too and then it happened but it was ok,
criticism is painful but necessary and once I recovered (and once I get round to it) I can use what I had to learn.
That book I made was very personal and like a baby to me, friends and family found it delightful but it obviously wasn't commercial.

I've gone back and looked at my current book and after being afraid to touch it but stuck on it, I now am ready to tear it apart and do a better, more complete draft...as soon as I've done the dishes, changed that nappy, sorted that heap......

Shrinkinglily · 28/05/2007 08:17

I've written poems but I don't want anyone to see them

singingmum · 28/05/2007 11:49

I do have poems I don't think I will ever have published.Way too personal.
Has anyone ever tried to write black lace style stuff?(they are the ones you buy in A.Summers)I actually think for me that it is some of the easier stuff to come up with

pudding77 · 28/05/2007 12:06

You could always try it singingmum! One of the authors I went to see the other week said he'd started by writing stories for mags like Jackie & M&B type stuff!

singingmum · 28/05/2007 12:10

Have written a few pieces (just short ones) but hard to get opinions as is extremely rude stuff.My mother won't even touch the paper so to speak and she is normally my sounding board

yeahIwrotesomepornonce · 28/05/2007 15:04

Singingmum, I am a regular MNer who has namechanged for obvious reasons.
I wrote some once and sent it off to Black Lace and got a really favourable reaction (the editor phoned me up and said it was good and please would I write the rest of the novel) but I was starting a degree at that point, for which I got funding, so I didn't need to take it further financially and decided not to do it so as to focus on the degree.
This was in the early days of Black Lace and I get the feeling they have moved on a lot since then - the more recent BL stuff is a lot less pot-boilerish than it used to be. Hence I doubt I'd be good enough these days.

I am happy to read/comment on yours - CAT me if you would like me to (hopefully this name will still work to get CATs even if I change back to my usual name).

I found it hilarious to write and also so straightforward compared with 'literary' fiction because it is quite obvious what effect you are trying to have on your readers and you don't need to agonise over whether it is important or original, just have a laugh with it. And unlike romance fiction, which is very prescriptive, the Black Lace editors are a lot more open.

singingmum · 28/05/2007 16:07

I read quite a bit of black lace and it is rather simple isn't it.Hopefully I will be able to get to my stories soon as at moment are in a box that I can't get at unless I sort other stuff.
Thanks for the offer might just do that.

Genidef · 29/05/2007 23:39

am bumping this

Shrinkinglily · 30/05/2007 07:18

I did some writing yesterday every chance I got all day. Produced two pages of a second draft. It seemed slow work and I'm impatient now, I just want to get on with it but too many children needing attention !

BandofMothers · 30/05/2007 07:26

Tell me about it.
Started one years ago and on chapter 7, but can't seem to get back to it as is too much to do to get back to the stage where I can just sit and write.

Have started a new project, but get so little time to do it. By evening I'm too tired and don't want to force it and write crap

pillowcase · 30/05/2007 07:49

OK, I did the exercise about the window and found it a good way to get writing. The results are so unexciting i ain't posting it

but i'll self-analyse:

so easy to write 300 words.
I edited it and it was better, it could do with another thorough rewrite but i'm not really bothered.

I couldn't stick to one simple idea but wanted to bring in the person's past etc.

I have a problem slowing down when I write, i just want it to happen and can't be bothered with the descriptive stuff.

I once went to a creative writing course and the teacher commented that I'm one of the rare people whose writing needs a bit of padding, most people write reams and need to pare down!

OK gonna browse through a creative writing book and find another exercise. Anyone want me to post it?

BandofMothers · 30/05/2007 07:59

Is this like a lesson thread then??
Exercises????

I'll read it if you want. Haven't read the whole thread tho so no idea what you're talking about[clueless]

Shrinkinglily · 30/05/2007 08:12

Yeah what's the excercise, I'll have a go.
I think I might be like you pillowcase, I have to force myself to explain things more...have to remember that people reading it won't be mind readers or people who know me and just know what I mean....

Reading over some things I've written and I cringe

pudding77 · 30/05/2007 08:32

BoM, we're just using the exercises from creative writing books to help us get going!

Still haven't managed to do the first one yet

Oenophile · 30/05/2007 08:55

My DDs being nearly grown up now (sniff) I decided it was time last year to do what I've always said I wanted to and Write. I started off by sending a transcript of my blog (the In-thing, someone just sold hers for 70K) to a publisher. Amazingly, it nearly made it... the commissioning editor loved it but it tripped up at finance board level over that usual obstacle 'not commercial enough'. In the meantime (in writing, everything has a very sloooooow timescale and you have to wait months) I started writing short stories for women's magazines and have sold ten to date - though that sounds better than it is, I have also had a LOT of rejections, I aim to get one out of four accepted so it's hardly ever going to bring me in loads of cash - just some useful pocket money and the thrill of feeling like a Real writer.

I also write little things for newspapers (have had a few short things in the Guardian - Family - you know the Snapshots/We Like to Eat/Playlist section?) - I heartily recommend this to have a go at, they pay £75 for a couple of paragraphs if you can hit the right note. Ditto Reader's Digest - £100 if you can come up with something for an end of article filler.

My top two tips would be a) Persistence - expect lots of rejections, start work on the next piece the moment you send out anything completed and B) really do study the publication first to see what they are looking for. I wasted lots of time and effort NOT following that advice - eg I sent off several stories to Fiction Feast which were written in the first person, only to see from their guidelines that 'we hardly every publish stories written in the first person so don't waste your time' - groan. Many mags will send you Writer's Guidelines if you send them an SAE.

OK but the OP was about writing a book, so back full circle: my blog is with another publisher who is making me wait an agonisingly long time over it - she phoned the other day to say she would make a decision in SEPTEMBER (she has had it since January!) so that's on hold. And yes I'm also having a go at Mills and Boon, my aim is to send them the first few chapters and see if they tell me 'yes you're on the right lines' or 'don't waste your time.' I wouldn't advise doing this with most other fiction as they'd expect you to have a finished book to offer, but the Mills ad Boon site appears to invite a speculative sample which will save a whole lot of work if I turn out to have no talent at it.

Sorry this is long and hope it doesn't sound 'braggy' - honestly I have had oodles more rejections than success - and as for getting a literary agent (essential if you want to submit to the larger publishers) well, I have tried five and all have turned me down flat with little or no encouragement.