If you have been writing for some time, how long? And what are your future plans regarding this piece? Do you think it has potential to ever get published? Have you every published anything? And if this piece exists, has it been edited by someone of that profession or similar? Just questions from a curious writer...
I'm currently working on a short story I started the day before yesterday... I'd like to get it fininished today, redrafted over the next few weeks, and then send it off to a magazine (not sure which one yet...maybe Interzone...) But aside from that, I have a novel in limbo at the moment, which eventually I will get around to giving a third draft. I would like to try and get it published somewhen, but I don't know if that will ever happen. So far it's only been edited by myself. I also have a couple of incomplete short stories, which I'm hoping to finish off this summer, and a handful more which need editing before I can start looking for magazines to send them to.
The novel I'm working on the moment has been alive (albeit in a very different format) since I was 12 years old. I stopped writing in 2004, and only started again in March/April of this year, when I went back to my original ideas and decided that it was very much possible to make something really good out of it (the last draft I wrote, back in 2003 was good, but still very rough, and poorly researched). Since then I've been writing and researching like a fiend. I always used to think that I would never bother trying to get published- I didn't think I was that good, I wasn't sure that people would want to read my things, etc. But I've reached the stage now where I'm thinking 'what the heck, might as well try'. Who knows. I've got several other ideas for novels simmering away, scribbled in notebooks or rough introductions and passages stored on various hard drives on the ol' laptop (backed up electronically- it happened once before where I lost everything in the Big Crash of 2004, and never again). But I'm concentrating on finishing this one at the moment. It is actually verging on obsession at the moment. Which is a bit concerning, but hey, everyone needs a hobby.
Having several projects on the go at once, here's a breakdown: The project that came first has been going for 7 years, and has not gone through 11 drafts - around 1,500 pages, not counting all the planning and exercises. With some luck. the eleventh attempt to get it all done will be the one that cracks the enigma. I'm also working on a story about a black hole that's been in the pipeline for a month or so. I'm a slow worker, unfortunately, and I can't see myself finishing it soon. I've also got various ideas kicking around. I started a new novel the other day set in the same world I've been dabbling in for the last 7 years, and so far I've sussed the first chapter.
I technically first started writing when I was about eight or nine, but my first "piece" was more or less some silly childish fantasy. I really started writing when I was about twelve or something, and I began exploding with tons of ideas, but it still never amounted to much - I only finished the short stories, and the novels I always lost interest in after a while. Finally, I started on a novel project when I was 14 that I finished in one year. It was my first completely novel (by hand, too!), it was a first draft, it was horrible, it sucked, but I don't really care - it showed me that I could do something if I tried. I'm actually still working on this project, but it's more like a side thing I do when I'm bored. My current project I've been working on for a year and a half. It's changed a lot since then, but I've already written up the first draft (horrible, as you might expect); I've written at least 5-7 drafts for the opening chapters of the second draft, and only finally truly begun the second draft a couple of weeks ago.
I'm currently working on a screenplay for a 5 min. short film, along with 4 different short stories that I've been dabbling with the past couple of months. I did have a novel idea that I've been wanting to get started on soon, but other than that not too much. I need to start sharing my work on here more now that I got a stable internet connection hooked up.
Wtf Since March. I've got roughly 170-180 pages total now; I'm so proud. Never written anything this long before.
I've been working on one particular project for 15 years+. I doubt I'll ever stop working on it, or perhaps I should say 'with' it as it's a series that I just keep adding new stories to. As to if it's publishable, sometimes I think it could be, other times I don't - but I'm lucky enough to have a few people with more faith in it than I often have, so I may pursue that option one day. I don't really consider myself published, per se (I usually use the term printed, ) but I have had a few poems printed in anthologies, plus a short piece I wrote on coping with grief used in a self-help book several years ago. No one but me has ever edited my work, but I have taken on board suggestions/corrections and criticisms from willing reviewers.
On my current project? Oh, I don't know, two years? A little more? I don't really keep track. Finish it, sell it, write part 2. I've seen worse stuff then mine get published, so why not? Nope. So far I haven't managed to get anything finished. I have hopes for this one, though. For some reason I'm not getting sick of it, the way I used to with my other stories. Nah, haven't finished the first draft. I do have a couple of published author acquaintances I might be able to con into it once I get there, though.
My main piece: less than 2 years - though I've not really worked on it as I've been working on other things. My NaNoWriMo Piece: Since last November, I've got the first 50k word draft, it's just redrafting it that's taking time. The Short Story I'm writing: Since last week - I'm half way through draft 1. My other short story I started today, I had to write it down because the idea came to me in a dream last night.
I've had the beginning idea of what my project is now a little over four years ago. Just last year I decided to finally tackle it and make it a novel rather than a short work. I researched it for almost a year and thought about my plot. I only started writing it a month ago due to a very busy school/work schedule.
I've got two stories I've been working on. One is an 'epic' fantasy novel about a girl who fell from the sky and the boy who protects her from the bad guys from getting her. The other is a horror story set in a small town with a dark secret and lots of monsters everywhere. The worldbuilding fantasy story has been knocked around for about 5 years, the Silent Hill story for about 3. I want to turn them both into video games (RPG and point-and-click adventure) to strengthen my portfolio.
Since I only recently discovered my passion for writing, I started my first serious book-like piece last night, I only got to about 500 words and my parent's told me to go to bed. x-x
I'm currently working on my first and only book. I started it about 2 years ago. I wrote 3 pages and forgot about it. While rummaging through the depths of my computer I came across it about 3 weeks ago and decided to pick it up back up again. It's now ~35 pages long and is completely taking off. I'm thoroughly enjoying myself and hope to have it finished by maybe Octoberish. As for publishing, I seriously doubt it. But hey, if I finish it and it's warmly received by people who's opinions I respect, then what the hell. Maybe I'll give it a shot.
I started writing my novel two months ago, I think. I've finished five chapters. No, I haven't published anything, but yes, I'm planning on publishing this one. Though, let's face it: Everyone writes these days, so better yet write it well.
I'm currently writing a SF short story, started just today! I also have a fantasy novel brewing away in my mind (and a detailed map in my desk drawer), which I hope to start work on when I'm settled in my first job - hopefully not more than a few months from now. I feel I'll have more of a chance with my novel if I've had some short stories published, though, so that's my priority at the moment.
I have been working on my novel for six months. I do think it has potential to get published. It is not complete yet and has not been edited. I may have a rude wake up call when it has been though. Haha my plans are to finish by years end and go from there. I have some poetry published but that is all.
I worked on my first book-to-be for almost a year (actually, it was a little over nine months - I'm not sure when I began writing it) and it's being proofread by some non-professional, trustworthy people I know. Most of the short stories I've written had no ending at all, but the ones that I did finish usually took no longer than three days.
Seven years. I'm so close to the finish now... one more chapter and then it's off to the second draft in a month. When I'm through a fourth draft, I'll try getting it published. I am sure that it'll be published, more so than I have been of anything else in my life. No it hasn't been edited/seen by someone experienced in the art. I have a friend reading it now and then, but that's only so that she can keep me going.
I've been writing it for about two years, but that doesn't include the time I spent researching oral stories across the Hebrides, Ireland, and (with the help of social networking sites) America, trying to find historical facts. I'm still doing that, and have been doing it for much longer than I've been writing. It isn't completely original, of course (actually it uses a lot of themes from the oral stories that have also made it as historically accurate as possible), but it's the most original story I've ever read. It's refreshingly different, as it doesn't have any teen romance or other abused themes in it. But the characters and the immersion that the people who helped me gather information (who've read it) say they feel when reading mean that it's a pretty good hook. If you have characters with deep personalities and a lot of things to show your readers, you usually have a bit of every genre in your plot. I definitely have. Not published anything yet. My GCSE work was published by the exam board for the benefit of stupid people (yes, the political correctness was pretty bad in the actual text, as well), but that's about it
I wrote my first poem at age six, and my principal had me read it over the elementary school's intercom system. I haven't stopped since. This is my first attempt at a novel, however, and I started writing it in January 2008. I would like to finish it, submit it to my critique group for a final review, take their notes and stash everything away for a year or while I work on something else. At the end of that year, or when I finish the follow-up project (whichever comes first) I'll pick it back up and start cleaning it. I would feel kind of arrogant if I said yes. But I hope so. I have been published, but not in book form. I've had poems and short stories published by literary magazines - no compensation other than exposure. I'm happy with that for now.
I always liked to write especially when I was in high school. Unfortunately I never had the oppurtunity to improve my style and nobody was interested in creative writing, so I gave up. I restarted writing, this time in english, about one year ago, after a great dissappointment at the end of a sci-fi series that convinced me that I could invent a better story, so I started to work on this project.
