Getting Book Published
POSTED BY: queenofthenorth
UPDATED: Friday, March 17, 2006 04:43
VIEWED: 28642
PAGE 6 of 14
Aw, don't get depressed. Looks like lots of people are interested. And definitely don't get drunk. Do you really want to support the stereotype of writers? I don't. You got farther than most people do and it's not over yet. Plus the holidays are coming and people might wait 'til then to buy things.
http://www.simple-assault.com/Firefly.htm
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That could be true. Thanks for the encouragement, SerenityValley.
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XG has already given you some good advice, but I’d like to add my two cents.
A near-consensus in the SF & F field is that it is always better to start out with short stories than with a novel. Short stories don’t require as much of an investment of time and energy as a novel, they get feedback faster than a novel, they teach most of the things you need to know to write a novel, and once you start getting published in the magazines, they get your name out to publishers.
You’ve decided to start out with a novel and like many folks have had a real difficulty getting it out there. I applaud you for your determination to publish your material; with luck it may well catch on. However, no matter what happens with your present novel, I recommend you follow it up with short stories. They take less time to write and require much less of an effort to get them published. And once you start turning up in the magazines, your name will slowly get on the radar of publishers who are interested in fantasy. Additionally, every story you write will improve your writing. No matter how good a writer you are, you can always be better--and the best way to improve your craft is to write. Which means that every story you finish, even if it doesn’t get published, will have improved your ability and made your chances of getting published the next time round much better. So that’s my recommendation, as one struggling F & SF writer to another.
If you want additional information about writing or publishing, I recommend you check out this site (if you haven’t already): www.sfwa.org. Among other things, they can point you towards publishers who deal in fantasy and SF.
Whatever you do, I wish you the best of luck. The world has too few writers, not too many, so keep at it! 
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Heyhey Queeny...
Your book has arrived.
Will be reading it in short order. Schedule is hectic but I should polish it off within a week or 2.
Hey boys... her pic is on the back cover and she's a hottie! Who'd have thunk it?
I'm having to rethink my views on life. I figured any woman who could write a book would have 3 eyes or tentacles. Or tentacles with 3 eyes each. Or even a 3rd eye at the end of a tentacle. I'm flexible when it comes to my delusions.
XG
No such thing as gravity. The "Earth-that-was" just sucks.
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Thanks for the compliment, XG! At least this way, if you don't like my book, I'll know that I'm hot. 
Anyways, be sure to let me know what you think, even if it's mean and evil.
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Quote:
Originally posted by queenofthenorth:
All right - fine - kinda figured as much. I'll leave it alone after this and just keep the link in my signature. I'll wait and see what happens.
If you have a direct link, I can put it in the Marketplace section of this site. I did just that for another person who self published an unofficial guide to Firefly.
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That'd be great, Haken, thanks. I'm pretty sure the link in my signature is a direct one. Let me know if it isn't.
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Alright Queeny I'm moving into Mystic Wings. It's a good read so far. Worthy of some praise and worthy of some criticism.
I'll wait till I've read the whole thing and mull it over a bit before I finally weigh in. When I do, I will want you to know where I'm coming from...
I wanna share something with you.
When I was in college, I had an amazing Literature professor. A cantankerous bearded old coot. I went there for a technical education and was forced againt my will to knock out some English courses as prerequisites. Got stuck with this guy. Prolly one of the better things to ever happen to me.
He was an eccentric oddball, and a threat to my GPA. Was hoping I could cruise through his class (an easy "A") but he was a stickler for punctuation, sentence structure, proper construction of a storyline, etc. Really loved to push people. He could always find something to be critical about. But, he also always had a suggestion on how to improve whatever he saw as being wrong.
At the beginning of each class, he'd start off with a story of some sort. He'd interrupt the class in the middle of a lesson to interject other stories. If someone did something out of the ordinary, he always had a story that somehow fit the subject. The guy was a born storyteller. And a real hardass. He was merciless, but always somehow managed to keep it interesting.
He had a natural ability to make people want to learn. A distinct talent I lack.
Just as an example of his eccentric stories (and no, this has nothing to do with anything, but it sticks out in my mind as memorable): He had nosey neighbors who liked to gossip. Always sticking their nose into everyone else's business (including his). His wife was nagging him to death about it. So, one day, he got up early in the morning when he knew his nosey neighbor was headed off to work, put on a civil war uniform (he was a re-enactor), and rode his horse around in the front yard hacking up his hedges with a sabre. His neighbor, who was about to get into a car to make the morning commute, stood there and watched dumbfounded. The professor put his horse back in the stable and returned to bed. And, within a day or so, the gossip started.
This man is a tenured professor mind you, an upstanding dignified member of the community. But he had a wildly creative side that he only revealed to his students. The guy was amazing in that respect.
When the "other" neighbors were asking him about it, he played dumb. He did'nt lie or attempt to deny it. He just stared them in the eye, repeated the question word for word, and then walked away without another word.
The gossipers went on to never gossip about him again. Surely, the professor would NEVER ride around in the wee hours of the morning, in a civil war costume hacking up the bushes. Preposterous.
This guy was one of a kind. I even enrolled for another class he taught the next semester. One of the few classes I ever took that wasn't a pre-req. From him I learned alot about writing and storytelling. I don't aspire to be a writer, but I can appreciate the process.
When I'm critical (and I will be), just know I have only him as rolemodel in this department. Doubt I'll measure up, but at least you know where I'm coming from.
XG
No such thing as gravity. The "Earth-that-was" just sucks.
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Well, it's good to know you don't hate it completely. Hopefully you will like it somewhat. That's all I can hope for. That professor sounds like a great guy. I can just imagine the look on his neighbor's face when he rode around his front yard hacking at hedges! Hehe. Priceless.
"Well, then, I believe perhaps that I am, in fact, completely screwed."
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...and no that isn't a setup. Your writing is good thusfar. You have the knack for telling a good and interesting story, no doubt about it.
Nobody is above criticism. I don't have praise for anyone (even my idols) without some degree of criticism. I'm just hopeful it's more than honest ~ accurate and justified. It will be merciless. But honest.
So far, the criticism is little, the storytelling is worthy. But I'm just getting into the thick of it and my opinion is building.
XG
No such thing as gravity. The "Earth-that-was" just sucks.
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