Make it stop!

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Senor_Biggles

Well-Known Member
Sep 13, 2015
188
878
51
Yes, I'm locked in rewrite Hell myself right now. Have been for...oh, about six or seven weeks. I'm losing count.
But then the whole thing's been problematical. What seemed like a very solid set of ideas, with pruning back from 250k likely, turned out to only be good for 75k before I reached the end. And that was before the pruning. And it's a crime novel, so 90-100k is pretty much the benchmark.
Then it has to go off for editing, because I'm already at the point where I'm going word-blind to it and just want to throw the lot out of the window (and you should never just rely on yourself, even though editing is the other half of what I do to earn me crust...and crusts are just about all I can afford, given the way that side of the publishing game is going).
It's an intriguing last image you've got there, though. Best of luck!

Best of luck with it Mr Nobody, be interested to hear about your progress. Mine's a crime novel too so I've got a lot of hacking and slashing ahead to get to a reasonable length. Re. the last image, I'm already thinking about an epilogue! I know I shouldn't but I just can't help myself. So difficult to get started and then once you get going you just can't stop. Madness the whole thing really.
 

Nomik

Carry on
Jun 19, 2016
3,973
22,555
47
Derry, NH
I am impressed! My mom and I were discussing publication earlier today. She wrote five or six full manuscripts before anyone published her novel. I made the decision to share with her a little bit of my work in progress. She told me (as I predicted )
"sounds like you are using [a famous author's] concept about this and such, and that part reminds me of [another book by a different author].
-what you need to do is get a copy if the most updated Writer's Market and find out what people are buying. You need to join a writer's group, I'll go with you." (Btw, SK is not in the brackets)
I remember going with her to those groups. No thank you. Maybe for my genre that would be a good idea. My novel requires s lot of immersive research. Of course I got the idea for one concept from that writer! It's not like she or he made it up out of whole cloth either. I contacted the author out of respect, just to make sure they did not mind.
Enough about me, sorry!
That is a feat l! I'll read your book on general principle. You finished it! Wow.
 
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Mr Nobody

Well-Known Member
Jul 9, 2008
3,306
9,050
Walsall, England
Best of luck with it Mr Nobody, be interested to hear about your progress. Mine's a crime novel too so I've got a lot of hacking and slashing ahead to get to a reasonable length. Re. the last image, I'm already thinking about an epilogue! I know I shouldn't but I just can't help myself. So difficult to get started and then once you get going you just can't stop. Madness the whole thing really.

Cheers. Same to you, too!
The good thing about having so much material is that there might/should be enough to cut a sub-plot or two out and include them in the next one (or two). That can be particularly hard, depending on how intertwined the threads are.
You know best, of course, but personally I'd hold off the epilogue and look at having it form the basis of the opening of a/the sequel. I know what you mean about not being able to help it, though. Sometimes you rush to the end to have done with it, but other times you'll sit and fiddle and add a bit more because you don't want the experience to be over. Most often it's a paradox - rush to get it done and then add stuff and sit and fiddle rather than tackle The Rewrite. It almost goes without saying that you should avoid both.
But yep, madness it is. I wouldn't write at all if I didn't have to, but it's a compulsion with me. I couldn't stop even if I wanted to (and there have been times where I really have wanted to).

I am impressed! My mom and I were discussing publication earlier today. She wrote five or six full manuscripts before anyone published her novel. I made the decision to share with her a little bit of my work in progress. She told me (as I predicted )
"sounds like you are using [a famous author's] concept about this and such, and that part reminds me of [another book by a different author].
-what you need to do is get a copy if the most updated Writer's Market and find out what people are buying. You need to join a writer's group, I'll go with you." (Btw, SK is not in the brackets)
I remember going with her to those groups. No thank you. Maybe for my genre that would be a good idea. My novel requires s lot of immersive research. Of course I got the idea for one concept from that writer! It's not like she or he made it up out of whole cloth either. I contacted the author out of respect, just to make sure they did not mind.
Enough about me, sorry!
That is a feat l! I'll read your book on general principle. You finished it! Wow.

The problem with writing based on what people are buying is that, very often, people don't know what they want until the book is in their hands. On the other hand, agents and publishers are very attuned to the market(s) and usually reject something that doesn't fit a narrow definition out of hand - which is where the 'rogue' titles in self-publishing come from.
As for joining a group...there's nothing saying you have to or even should, but if you do it should be the right group. Some of them can be pretty b*tchy and demoralising, but if you can find a good one it can help increase productivity and improve your outlook no end. If none of them seem to fit, though, there's nothing wrong with doing it alone. And of course these days you can always find specific groups online or just chat about writing on a forum (like here!).
As for originality, there's a quote I remember reading along the lines of "There are only five types of story in all the world, and they're all Cinderella" (I think it might have been by George Bernard Shaw, but I can't find it so I won't be sure). Beware plagiarism, even if unintentional, but if the bar is set at Complete Originality then we may as well put our pens down and rest.
 
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Senor_Biggles

Well-Known Member
Sep 13, 2015
188
878
51
I am impressed! My mom and I were discussing publication earlier today. She wrote five or six full manuscripts before anyone published her novel. I made the decision to share with her a little bit of my work in progress. She told me (as I predicted )
"sounds like you are using [a famous author's] concept about this and such, and that part reminds me of [another book by a different author].
-what you need to do is get a copy if the most updated Writer's Market and find out what people are buying. You need to join a writer's group, I'll go with you." (Btw, SK is not in the brackets)
I remember going with her to those groups. No thank you. Maybe for my genre that would be a good idea. My novel requires s lot of immersive research. Of course I got the idea for one concept from that writer! It's not like she or he made it up out of whole cloth either. I contacted the author out of respect, just to make sure they did not mind.
Enough about me, sorry!
That is a feat l! I'll read your book on general principle. You finished it! Wow.

Thanks Nomik, appreciate it even though it won't be ready for anyone else to take a look at for a while . Same goes for you though, you finish it I'll read it.
 
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