@Radia543
Last seen: Mon 17 May, 2021
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: How much can you change a self-published book for it to count as a "new" book in the eyes of a traditional publisher? I have a book that is nearing completion. Because the current circumstances
I have a book that is nearing completion. Because the current circumstances might increase interest in the book and also the Christmas sale is coming, I would like if it would be a good idea to self-publish it now (e.g. on Amazon Kindle) and later send a changed version of the book to a traditional publishing house?
The idea is that I would like to add more material to the book - but in order to do that, that takes time I currently don't have. I don't plan on a radical rewrite, but rather to make the book more substantial.
I know that there are questions like these that deal with the case where one tries to get essentially the same book published the traditional way and that seems to work if the self-published work is a commercial success.
I guess what I'm asking here is: If the self-published work is not a commercial success, when does a changed book count as a "new submission"?
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: Re: Using alternative phrases to "meanwhile" or "elsewhen" to describe a non-linear flow of time as two consecutive events I am currently writing a "time-travel" themed story that is more
Some suggestions that aren't 'meanwhile'
"At the time (that x was happening), our hero awoke at the first turn of a plot twist."
"While...."
"Several light years away on planet X..."
"At the exact point where john was standing, but 15,000 years before that moment..."
"Much earlier -- almost 4,00 generations before -- "
"Ages before this..."
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: Re: Is it acceptable to put the period after the quotation mark? As a programmer, it always bothered me when the period was inside the quotation marks, like so: His nickname was "Quincy."
Periods and other punctuation marks being placed inside of quotation marks is a typographical convention. "Full stop." If you do it differently, it will stand out, and not in a good way.
If you want your writing to be published, follow the conventions and style rules of the publisher, institution or organization.
This is not about programming syntax, or "logical" rules. You are not writing code. You are not writing in languages other than English -- which have their own conventions for punctuation marks (including different quotation marks).
In a direct quotation, there are some rare cases where punctuation would go outside the quotes. One example is asking a question about a direct quote that is not a question:
Did Abraham Lincoln say, "Those who look for the bad in people will surely find it."?
"Official English department 'rules'" is not a thing, by the way. There are official anthropology department rules, official biology department rules, official Associated Press rules, official Chicago Manual of Style rules, official American Medical Association rules, official Modern Language Association rules, and on and on. Point being, there are STYLE GUIDES for this stuff, and just as a programmer needs to know C# syntax, or Python syntax, you need to know that there are publication styles guides that spell out the "syntax rules" -- and you should know about and consult at least one of them.
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: When applying to Literary Agents do you attach the query letter or paste it into the body of the email? I'm applying to agents, most of whom want a query letter and most of which want applications
I'm applying to agents, most of whom want a query letter and most of which want applications via email. I'm confused by the format. Do they want the query letter attached or pasted into the email, and if they want it attached, then what the what do I put in the email? Arrgh. Help!
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: Looking For a Simile For Something That Follows You Around I'm writing a blog post about the impacts of an autoimmune disease. The sentence I'm trying to construct looks like this: "The
I'm writing a blog post about the impacts of an autoimmune disease. The sentence I'm trying to construct looks like this:
"The disease importunately follows me around like a god damn..."
I'm struggling to come up with something better than "... Puppy who lost his ball."
Any suggestions? The cruder, the better. A pop culture reference would be awesome!
I'm stuck.
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: Re: Misspelling and punctuation how to improve? Love telling/writing stories except I am the absolute worst at both spelling along with punctuation. Normally I care less about these things because
Partial answer about punctuation.
The most "natural" way to improve would be to read a lot of books that interest you (as in, books that definitely went through editing) until you get intuitive understanding of the most commonly used punctuation points. This really is a long process though, and if you want to learn faster you need to combine it with reading about punctuation and applying what you learned to your own text.
For example, if you are concerned about using commas, read about commas and try to find places in your text where commas should be. Don't try to remember everything in one go, just start with the rules that concern you the most and don't be discouraged if you have to look up a rule more than once.
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: Seeking advice - screenwriter looking to write novel All. I'm looking for some advice. I'm interested in writing a young adult mystery novel, but I don't believe I'm a good writer in the traditional
All. I'm looking for some advice. I'm interested in writing a young adult mystery novel, but I don't believe I'm a good writer in the traditional sense. My background is in screenwriting, so my strengths are in conceptualizing, story/plot structure, and character development. While I still enjoy screenwriting, I don't like the odds of getting a script green-lit and produced, so I'm looking at writing novels as a way of scratching my writing itch and hopefully having a finished product I can be proud of. That said, I don't believe I write prose well enough to be commercially viable (e.g., descriptions, grammar, etc.).
Long story short, I'm wondering what the best path forward is. Should I storyboard/outline the novel and hand it over to a ghostwriter directly to write from scratch? Or should I write a "bad" first draft and hire an editor to rewrite it, ideally in a more compelling manner. Or any other paths you guys would recommend? In either case, I know there will be some costs associated, so that would also weigh into my decision. But any thoughts much appreciated.
Thanks!
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: Re: Naming Side characters So, basically, how do you name side characters? I get that you should give the main characters meaningful names, but finding suitable names for all of my characters is
My experience has been to concentrate on the story - first and foremost. That is what drives the success or failure of any kind of fiction. So, as you create each new character, if a name fails to materialize immediately, you might try labeling the first unnamed character as "AAA," the second as "BBB," and so on. This will temporarily identify each unnamed character on paper and within your mind. Then, following a few rewrites and further development of your character(s), appropriate names should pop into your head, and you can replace each label with a name that makes you happy.
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: I just made a song, its called "Ain't going there no way no how". Bards are useless cowards, how do I make them useful in combat? This guy said he was an adventurer, we paid him to help
This guy said he was an adventurer, we paid him to help us on a mission to kill some orcs. Because screw orcs!
Turns out the guy really is just an useless bard, his sword is just for show, all he can do is sing and play a stupid small harp. Totally not worth the money, but the contract was clear....we had to pay in advance and the guy had great charisma so we couldn't refuse.
Now we are stuck with the useless idiot and we can't kill him, might as well use him to get the job done.
How can I use a bard to kill 30 orc warriors (not all at once), considering our team composed of 4 excellent fighters and a useless bard. Our plan was to just get chased by a bunch of orcs on horseback and lure them into traps but the bard is not even a skilled rider, he would just fall into the traps instead of skipping them.
Wasting money is something I hate, and I invested into that guy, might as well make an use out of him!
I need a way to give this useless bard an use in combat, what can I do?
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: Re: Alternative to "it is commonly said" I have a sentence I am trying to write that just doesn't feel right. It currently reads "It is commonly said that X, but the truth is that Y." The second
There are as many ways to say "here is an idea" as there are words. The second part doesn't matter for now; it will naturally follow the first.
You are going to make a contrast, but first you are going to introduce an idea.
"People often say" is one brief way to introduce an idea that you are identifying as a common concept or belief.
But so is: "Among the philosophers and rulers of ancient Rome, the belief that the gods often directly intervened in human affairs was as certain as it was among the proletariat."
My point is that situation (plot), concept and character are everything. Is your character (or narrator) a scholar who would use academic phrasing, or a radio announcer who would use glib wordplay, or a teenager who uses slang to speak bluntly?
That's just one way of looking at the phrasing question.
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: Re: Should an emoji come before or after a full-stop? When I make a hilarious joke on social media it's easy to put an emoji/emoticon/smiley on the end. But sometimes I want to set the context
Emoji is new and I believe there haven't any grammar rules related to emojis. You can put it before, after, or even as a full-stop.
If you ask me, I prefer to put it as a substitute of punctuation marks. However, I sometimes put it before punctuation marks, indicating that the emoji is still part of the sentence (describing that sentence).
Example:
I didn't brush my teeth this morning .
God, I miss movie theaters I hate this pandemic ! When will it end?
I am the one who ate your leftovers
I also sometimes think emojis are like phrases you use in parentheses, but as images.
Hello ï¸, guys!
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: Re: What's the best version control system for a book writer? I'm a writer—no programming, only prose in text files, mostly in Emacs org-mode, some in markdown-mode. I want to implement a version
If you are using mac, you can try Drawers, which is specially designed for writers, use it to manage versions and copies of works. This way you don’t have to keep duplicating and renaming your files.
Drawers in App Store
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: Re: Does self-publishing one's eBook online hurt a writer's chances of later selling the same book to a traditional publisher? Prior to asking this question, I have found and read similar questions
For one data point, Penguin's DAW Books (publishes science fiction and fantasy) has this to say on their FAQ page (emphasis mine):
Do you accept works that have been previously published (self-publishing, e-publishing, etc.)?
DAW can consider all submissions as long as the author currently retains all rights. If you do currently retain all rights, then you may submit the work to us for consideration.
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: Re: Does this writing style have a proper name? I'm curious to know if this style of writing (pattern) has a name. They can sometimes take up almost a full paragraph giving background about a
In news writing, it might be called an attribution or background clause or sentence. Reporters attribute a fact or description to a source; that is, they identify a person, publication, document as the source of the information. Those sentences often include background or identifying information, as in the question. I don't believe most reporters have a formal name for that -- a string of non-restrictive clauses with biographical information after referring to a person or source.
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: Re: When to write (see Section ...) or simply (Section ...)? I am writing a technical paper and would like to refer to a previous section in brackets. I have seen it done both ways: Things are
Cross reference wording, placement, and formatting are important considerations, but there are few rules. It's both a style and content question.
It's true that appearance, wording, and format might be prescribed by an organization's or publication's style guide. You can consult Chicago Manual of Style, Microsoft Manual of Style for Technical Publications, the Apple Style Guide, and so on.
In terms of content, I believe there is a difference between making reference to another section or chapter, and telling a reader to go to another place for specific information. The difference may only be in whether you are mentioning what is in a chapter, or directing a reader there for specific information related to the current paragraph or section. For example:
The Safety chapter (page 21) includes a list of toxic substances that are involved in the cleaning process.
Before continuing, refer to "Safety" on page 21 for a list of toxic substances.
For more information about hazards, see "Toxic substances" on page 27, and the entire chapter on safety ("Stay Safe in the Factory" starting on page 11).
I always go back to what I think are the fundamental rules of technical and informational writing: Be clear, concise and consistent. If you think the added words or a specific format are clear and concise, then use them, whether the cross-references are for print, or hyperlinks.
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: Re: Q about verb tenses for technical writing This kind of thing comes up a lot in my engineering job. We're writing a document that is a Plan for something we'll be doing in the future. For
In general for technical documents, I follow the convention that present tense is the simplest and most appropriate. Avoid future and conditional tenses. I also avoid phrases such as "should be" that are judgmental rather than factual.
In the particular examples in the question, "Developers are required" or "developers must" is present tense and direct. "Developers will be" is not as effective, because the future tense just leaves hanging the question of "when?"
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: Getting stuck on imagining what should be happening in the moment I frequently experience a specific type of writer's block and am looking for strategies to work around it. I lean toward discovery
I frequently experience a specific type of writer's block and am looking for strategies to work around it.
I lean toward discovery writing but with some need to understand my story in advance, enough to give me a general direction to head in my storywriting.
I frequently struggle with not being able to write because I don't understand what should be going on in the immediate moment. Because of this I try hard to end writing sessions in the middle of something going on in the story, so I can pick back up the thread later. Non-linear writing helps some, as does switching writing projects opportunistically, but they don't fix the underlying problem of finding myself drawing a total blank at knowing what comes immediately next in my story. I now have three stories sitting at chapter breaks, and I just can't see what comes immediately next in any of them.
Do others experience this, and, if so, how do they handle it?
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: How to format my book before sending it to a publisher? I am looking to send a copy of a horror anthology that i finished recently to a publisher and don't know what the editing format of
I am looking to send a copy of a horror anthology that i finished recently to a publisher and don't know what the editing format of the pdf should be or how the letter to the publisher should go.
Need help.
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: Need help portraying a character's personality in my First Person POV Narrative I'm writing a First-Person POV story that is following the main protagonist. I'm trying to get to the main plot,
I'm writing a First-Person POV story that is following the main protagonist. I'm trying to get to the main plot, but I can't do that without making the story enticing enough to make the readers want to keep reading up to that point, obviously. I'm not sure how to, but I want to clearly show my main characters arrogance through his dialogue and actions, but like I said I'm not sure how to. If it helps, here's some info:
Plot Summary
Hunter Shiro, a 15-year-old male, lived a pretty uneventful life until he got into a heated argument with his close friend, Joey. The argument ends in a falling out, but their falling out doesn't last long as Hunter realises they are in danger. Joey is oblivious to the serial killer approaching him, so Hunter pushes him out of the way and dies, something he never thought he'd do. When he opened his eyes again he was in a dark void with only him and the beautiful angel, Lucy. She tells Hunter that a dreadful force of evil has been born on Earth and only he can stop it. Hunter is re-born onto Earth (Thus the name of the story, Re-Birth.) with all of the memories of his past life and is tasked with removing this 'evil' from it.
About Hunter
Hunter is a tanned male with azure eyes and jet black hair. Ever since his father passed away, he and his mother would sit in the house and barely communicate. He often lets his arrogance get the better of him and, even though he doesn't like to admit it, he is overly caring (Meaning he cares about others, even if he doesn't know them.). After his death, Hunter begins to change his ways and also his personality.
I don't need to worry about his new, changed personality just yet; his arrogant persona is what I need. Like I asked before, I need to know the best ways to show his arrogance through his character. Anyone know how I can do this effectively? I just feel like I won't do it very well. If I need to write some more information then let me know and I will comment to you what you need. Thanks.
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: Can't think of a good name for my story I've gotten pretty far into a story that I'm writing, but I can't for the life of me think of a name. I've never really been good at making names.
I've gotten pretty far into a story that I'm writing, but I can't for the life of me think of a name. I've never really been good at making names. Any tips on how I can come up with a good name for my story? It's a Fantasy if that helps.
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: Re: How can I abbreviate "Equations" and "Recommendations" in a text? When I want to abbreviate the words "Equations" and "Recommendations" in a text, how can I do this? for example
"Equations" should not be abbreviated unless it is appearing with an equation number, in which case the standard abbreviation styles are "Eq. 3" and "Eqs. 4-6".
I don't think abbreviating "recommendations" would ever be necessary in academic writing.
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: Re: How to write strategy and schemes beyond my real-life capabilities? I am interested in how to write compelling schemes, large-scale strategies and tactics etc. There are lots of fictional stories
One of the things I find most powerful for constructing strategies or schemes which may go beyond what the author could do themselves is show don't tell. If you tell the audience what the strategy is, they can poke holes in it. "What if X happened?" "What if Y didn't show up?" However, if you show them what happens, that's all they have. It's frustratingly hard to distinguish brilliance from madness.
Somewhat case in point, I had an English teacher who admitted that he and his friends liked to play Chicken with cars when he was a young and foolish age. They'd all stand on the curb, wait for a car, and then try to run out in front of it to the other side of the road. The guy who left the curb last was the cool cat. He was the one that had the real brass balls.
My teacher was the guy with the cojones. Nobody could ever figure out how he managed to leave the curb that late without being totally freaked out. He never told them. He just showed them. Over and over, he won the game.
Many years later, seeking to put us students on a less reckless path, he let us in on the secret. He told us how he did it. In all reality, he was too scared stiff to leave the curbside. It terrified him. So he remained frozen in place until his raw desire to stay "in" with his friends broke free the mental cement that held his feet in place and he quickly fled in the winning direction. But he never told them that! He showed them the cool kid.
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: Re: Is there any other way to share information on a website apart from typical Blogging, YouTube or Podcast? I have a website and I want to share content mostly related to security and technology
How about the PowerPoint model -- a slide presentation designed to convey key concepts quickly for an easily bored audience.
In other words, think brief, short statements, bullet lists, occasional sentences and paragraphs, and always a relevant illustration or image. These kind of posts could be created in powerpoint but posted as web pages, separate images, or a scrolling slide show.
The slide show model is definitely geared to the meme-seeking, short-attention-span audience online. It's kind of the opposite of the mostly-text world of journal and magazine articles, blogs, and podcasts.
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: Re: Are illustrations in novels frowned upon? Lately I've been thinking that I don't know of a single novel that has illustrations in it. I've tried finding out the reason why, and came across
Aside from children books, there's an entire novel industry whose one of the main appeals is the inclusion of illustrations: the light novel industry in Japan.
In the good old days, pulp magazines were a cheap way to consume literature. These magazines usually included many short stories within a single issue, with popular characters (such as Doc Savage and The Spider) having their own magazines.
Spicy Mystery Stories Vol. 2 #4
Unlike novels, the cover art of pulps actually played a major role in the marketing side. And at some point in time, they also began including illustrations within the magazine depicting elements of the stories.
"I Confess" Vol. 9 #1
While the west pulp industry declined by the 50s, Japanese pulps still sold. Eventually, the magazine format was mostly replaced by the novel format, but the major role of illustrations remained the same. As publishers wanted to drag the attention of anime and manga fans, the art of light novels inherited the characteristic anime/manga aesthetics (big eyes, impossible hair/eye colors, etc.).
Sword Art Online Vol. 7
Soon, the light novel industry found its place along other media industries. Anime, manga and live-action adaptations of popular light novels would attract new readers, more readers would demand the creation of more light novels, more light novels would spawn more adaptations, and so on. The light novel industry slowly grew in the following years until the anime adaptation of the Haruhi Suzumiya series skyrocketed the popularity of the medium in an unprecedented way. Many of the most popular franchises of the last years started as light novels.
Nowadays it's hard to imagine a light novel series without a strong emphasis in illustrations, as it has been one of its selling points since its inception.
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: Re: Is there such a thing as too inconvenient? I find myself often being irritated at elements in situations that help characters succeed, elements which are also highly unlikely or even illogical.
I would fall back on Sanderson's First Law of Magicks
Sanderson’s First Law of Magics: An author’s ability to solve conflict with magic is DIRECTLY PROPORTIONAL to how well the reader understands said magic.
Magic, of course, has similar writing properties as convenience might. I think the key wording is "ability to solve conflict." It doesn't matter who wins in the conflict, its the fact that it is solved which causes the issue.
Consider the difference between a dragon that suddenly swoops down and resolves the fight between the hero and villain, and a dragon which comes down, ruins all of the potential resolutions available, perhaps steals a princess before returning to their lair, leaving both hero and villain scratching their heads about what to do. Now the conflict hasn't been resolved, but rather a whole new aspect of the world has been exposed.
Of course, such a move does resolve some conflict, so it is up to the author to convince the reader that it's a good trade -- the conflict they knew and were comfortable with, traded away for this shiny new unknown conflict!
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: Re: Print runs, unsold books, books by weight and do authors get some compensation for unsold? I got couple of good definitions of the traditional Print run. One of the disturbing things mentioned
What that definition of "print run" is missing is the actual printing cost. There is a huge cost of setting everything up to print let's say a 200 page book. If you print 10,000 books, the first book costs an enormous sum of money; the other 9,999 are dirt cheap.
So if you estimate you can sell 6,000 books, and print 6,000 books, and you sell them all and realise you could sell 2,000 more, printing these 2,000 will cost you almost as much as printing 6,000, and printing 6,000 plus 2,000 will cost you as much as printing 15,000 in one go. That's why you will always print a lot more than you think you will be selling, because its much cheaper to have too many printed than not having enough printed.
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: Re: Transitional sections As I mentioned in my other recent question, my novel in progress has three main locations. I feel those three settings are strong, fully imagined places, with interesting
If you drop these scenes/locations from your story, where does it leave you? Does your plot still flow smoothly? Are your characters developing the way you want them to? If your plot and characters are the same with or without them the you can probably sum up their traveling in a few short lines.
Three weeks on the road had been hell, if you could call it a road.
By the time they reached Storyville, Frances was desperate for a hot
bath and a meal he didn't have to skin himself.
If you try dropping these locations, but you feel something is missing, then definitely try fleshing them out a little. It doesn't need to be extravagant, but something important to your story should happen at these places. They could be good areas to work on character development, foreshadowing, or setbacks to the characters progress. They could be opportunities for you characters to practice some skills they might need later on.
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: Formatting a conversation In a novel, how would one best represent a recorded conversation between two people played back to a larger audience? The normal rules apply regarding quotation marks
In a novel, how would one best represent a recorded conversation between two people played back to a larger audience? The normal rules apply regarding quotation marks and beginning a new paragraph every time someone begins to speak but should the recorded conversation be italicized? Should the narration pertaining to the recorded conversation be within the same paragraph or separate? The answer is probably obvious and I may well be overthinking this but any help would be swell.
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: Re: Subverting the essence of fictional and/or religious entities; is it acceptable? I talked to a critique partner not too long ago about an angel in my book. I said, he was a subversive character,
The beauty of fiction is that it can be whatever you want it to be. It's your story, your world, you characters, however you want to write them. You can use as much or as little of the real world as you want. You can move cultures across time, invent impossible technologies and turn entire belief systems inside out.
I don't see anything wrong with subverting your characters "essence" in the way you've described. I still get the idea that he is an angel, just not the type typically thought of in a religious context. This is how YOU define YOUR angel. I don't see a problem with it.
You critique partner may object because of the religious nature of the subject, or he might not be able to see beyond his own definition. Either way, it is always a good idea to have several people take a look at your work. They will all have their own opinions and it will help you sort out where the real problems with the story are and what are only personal objections. Never rely on only one person's opinion.
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: When to ask for constructive criticism? I have 40,000 words of a novel and I am not sure at what point to ask for constructive criticism.
I have 40,000 words of a novel and I am not sure at what point to ask for constructive criticism.
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