McAnally's (The Community Pub) > Author Craft
Author In Progress
Panda - Chan:
--- Quote from: meg_evonne on March 01, 2010, 12:08:04 AM ---Hey Panda, Panda, Panda! You going to Fayette? (This is the Panda from KC area right? I mean how many pandas can there be in here?) which is why writing for your own pleasure is a vocation not a career for what-- 90% of novel writers?
--- End quote ---
KC???????
I'm completely lost.
meg_evonne:
Oops more than one panda I guess. I met someone at a signing in jefferson city... Was gpoing to book up for the fayette signing. My bad. Hope I didn't freak you out. She loves pandas. Apologies!
drza:
I feel incredibly accomplished just to be making this post. I've tried to register to this site several times in recent years, and every time I did I would never get the activation e-mail no matter how many times I requested it. And there's no 'contact us' link that I could find, so eventually I'd just give up. But finally, with the third e-mail address that I've tried, I am now officially a member of this board and can respond to some of the threads I've lurked upon. Woot!
Anyway, on topic, I decided one day to sit down and write out my ultimate series with everything that I like in it. This was in 1996. Since then I have brainstormed, written backstories, and gotten to know a whole cast of characters in a world that has changed everything from tone to genre in the last 14 years. What began as pseudo sci fantasy (that, upon re-reading my earliest notes sounded suspiciously like Star Wars, which I had just read at the time...hmmm) has morphed to medieval high fantasy to non-medieval high fantasy to some combo of all of the above that includes...you guessed it, everything that I like. The problem was (actually, 2 problems) that a) when I tried to actually start writing the book itself it was harder than pulling my own teeth and b) my life leaves me no time in which to write.
About this time last year, though, I got so frustrated with one of my favorite series to read that I did something that I never thought I'd do...I sat down and wrote out a fanfic scene to mollify myself. I started thinking about the scene on the way to work, and by the time I actually got to work I could see it so clearly that I just sat down and wrote out what was bursting in my mind. It took about 2 hours, and I know it needed polishing, but when I got done and read it my first thought was...you know, this isn't bad. I even let two other people see it (didn't feel comfortable putting a story from someone else's world out there beyond just e-mailing it to a couple of folks), and their reaction was...you know, this isn't bad. But more importantly, the realization that I actually could write scenes instead of just brainstorming jump started me on writing my own stuff.
Long story short, I've been on (intermittent) fire sense December, and I'm within spitting distance of finishing the first draft of my very first novel. No idea if it's any good or not, but after almost 14 years of "someday I'm going to write something" I'm pretty jazzed to almost have my foot on the path. The overarching story is a huge, high fantasy epic set in multiple locations over about 30 years that would take me lots and lots of words over lots and lots of volumes to write. This particular novel started off as just a lark, an intermission between the early stuff and later stuff I had planned out. But for the first time the story is just flowing out of me, so now it's taken on a life of its own. It's got an urban fantasy feel, though it's based in a fantasy world. The protagonist looks like an everyday Joe, a short kinda chubby guy with glasses. Only he's got some were-beast/wizard/skin-shifter things going on to keep things interesting. Oh, and he's been banished from his home land for reasons yet unspecified. Oh, oh, and there are several groups of very powerful people that have been trying their best to kill him for a very long time. Oh, oh, oh, and one of those groups has kidnapped his godson. He'd do anything to protect him...the only problem is, the only options he can come up with are to either kill everyone which causes everyone that he loves to die as well, or to protect all of his loved ones so that the only one that needs die is him...
belial.1980:
Your story sounds really interesting and I'm eager to find out how it progresses. I think you've come to the right place. This board is an excellent forum to get advice on writing and mingle with bright people who really know what they're talking about. (And guys like me who just toss their $.02 in the jar from time to time.) Welcome aboard!
meg_evonne:
"About this time last year, though, I got so frustrated with one of my favorite series to read that I did something that I never thought I'd do."
Jim commented that was why he wrote the Dresden Files. LOL Welcome and I'm sorry you had such trouble getting 'official' as it were. Lurkers are always welcome, but if you want to be a member and are having difficulty, then it's time to let Fred Hicks,Prescellie, or Mickey Finn know. You might send one of them a post concerning where the system didn't work for you. (See member's tab above.)
Navigation
[0] Message Index
[#] Next page
[*] Previous page
Go to full version