Science Fiction Fantasy Chronicles: forums - View Single Post - 17 Important Things I've Learned About Writing and Publishing

SJAB · 30th April 2007, 10:07 AM

Thank you Teresa for this wonderful list.

I wish I had seen something like it five or more years ago. A lot of your points I have learned the hard way and have the lumps and bumps on my ego and self-confidence to show for it.

Number one I have fallen foul of a couple of times, especially showing first drafts or newly started work to people. A number of times it has killed the story stone dead for me. I still do it now and then, but any critiques I print off and keep, not reading until I have got the creation into first draft.

Though I have found now and then bouncing ideas off people does help me think, or a few having a few friends that let me ramble at them concerning plot and characters. Often the very act of putting down the thoughts to someone helps me sort out the ideas.

I am at present in the throes of number ten with one project and 11 with another

The one at ten has ground to a halt because one scene is not working. (I can't work out of sequence in a plot.) and it is stopping me moving on. I need to pin myself to the chair and go back through it, I know.

The eleven is a novel that actually got sample chapters requested by an agent, but was then rejected. I have often worried that the beginning of this story is not strong enough, too much scene setting perhaps, so I am trying to strip it back to a point that might be a better beginning. It might not work, but it a way of forcing myself to look objectively at my work.

30th April 2007, 10:07 AM	#12 (permalink)
SJAB Registered User Join Date: Mar 2006 Location: Staffordshire Posts: 444	Re: 17 Important Things I've Learned About Writing and Publishing Thank you Teresa for this wonderful list. I wish I had seen something like it five or more years ago. A lot of your points I have learned the hard way and have the lumps and bumps on my ego and self-confidence to show for it. Number one I have fallen foul of a couple of times, especially showing first drafts or newly started work to people. A number of times it has killed the story stone dead for me. I still do it now and then, but any critiques I print off and keep, not reading until I have got the creation into first draft. Though I have found now and then bouncing ideas off people does help me think, or a few having a few friends that let me ramble at them concerning plot and characters. Often the very act of putting down the thoughts to someone helps me sort out the ideas. I am at present in the throes of number ten with one project and 11 with another The one at ten has ground to a halt because one scene is not working. (I can't work out of sequence in a plot.) and it is stopping me moving on. I need to pin myself to the chair and go back through it, I know. The eleven is a novel that actually got sample chapters requested by an agent, but was then rejected. I have often worried that the beginning of this story is not strong enough, too much scene setting perhaps, so I am trying to strip it back to a point that might be a better beginning. It might not work, but it a way of forcing myself to look objectively at my work.