A new face
Greetings to all.
I've been writing most of my life, mostly distracted from it by having to earn a living.
However, I've been writing in isolation, and it has become increasingly difficult to see the virtue and folly in what I'm writing, so I've been looking round for a writers' circle - somewhere I can bounce ideas around and see what people think of what I'm writing. Now I have time to make a good run at it.
So here I am.
I live in North Canterbury, but have spent time in Hong Kong and the UK.
I write in most genres, or have done so at one time or another, but have moved from short fiction to more ambitious projects of late.
I am unpublished, and needless to say, I am new to this site. I'm sitting on a 150,000 word fantasy novel that I finished a few weeks ago, and trying to decide what to do with it. I will doubtless be seeking someong kind enough to review it for me - at least a few chapters - and advice on what publishers are known to accept this type of fiction.
Let the games begin....
Thanks for the welcome. I will post a chapter or two in the review forum - almost did it last night, but saw a couple of places where it could run a little better, so went back into writing mode. Will probably do it today. The book is designed to be the first of three, the trilogy covering a period of about forty years. The first book covers about three years and chronicles the rise of the protagonist from nobody in particular to the very top.
The trilogy is essentially a parallel dimension fantasy, though that's not used much in the opening book.
As to the length - if you read some of it you may see that there's not much to contract without pulling apart the plot. I wrote the first draft as a fairly skeletal piece and then put flesh on the bones, which added about ten thousand words. 150,000 should be about 500 pages, which is the ball park I was aiming at. Most of the fantasy books that I like come in between 400 and 800 pages.
I've got two alternatives on the backburner - one of which would be a general novel, probably in the region of 75,000, and the other a SciFi about 100,000 (not counting the sequel to the current effort, which looks to be about 120,000, and is mostly plotted out).
Hello Titus, I too live in isolation, 45 minutes from Nelson, but I would not change it for all the money on earth! Writing in such a place can be lonely, but I enjoy the solitude (in saying that I live with my husband and son), but not having a local group I can go to is a little bit disappointing, so I too joined KiwiWriters in order to have some form of a writers group, and through it I have met some wonderful people.
I have just finished a trilogy, which I have condensed down into a large book, which I have out and about with friends at present, with a view to getting it published eventually, but this month most of my time will be taken up with SoCNoC.
Perhaps we could start up a rural group, and now we have chat facilities here, we could meet in the chat room once a fortnight inside of face to face... I sure there would be others out there who might be interested...?
Hi Karen. You sound even more rural than us. We're only 18k from Rangiora - 15 minutes on a good day.
A rural group might be a good thing. Do you know how many of us are rural?
I have no idea, although we could always put something out there, then pick a night that suits most people and we can start a rural chat on the Chatroom.
That chat sounds like a great idea. I wonder how many UK-based Kiwi Writers there are around. :)
Titus, it sounds like you've got a good portfolio of novels there and like you've done your research or at least your reading. Keep at it!
Welcome titus. There are plenty of great resources around the web and I'm glad you've found our little home. If you'd like some feedback on the novel or a couple chapters post a message in our Critique and Review forum. A 150,000 word novel, even for Fantasy will be hard first sell so you'll no doubt get a lot of advice to revise, revise, revise and condense it down to a more usual 90,000 word length. That probably sounds impossible right now, especially if you've just finished it so some better advice might be to let it rest a bit so you can gain some perspective and continue learning so you can bring more to the revision.
Also, what's it about? I always love a good fantasy story and I can't say I'm daunted by word count as a reader since I was sucked into the Wheel of Time!
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"It can happen. It does happen. But it can't happen if you quit." - Lauren Dane.
No Excuses. Just Write.