Author In Progress

[Drew]

Heheh, Dru, Drew....so long as we can avoid being quartered we're good.

I'd settle for a nickle.

[eviladam]

I've been writing for over ten years. It started with a couple of really horrible novellas in middle school that will never see the light of day. I have a dozen different stories laying around in various states of completion and I tried to publish my own horror comic for a while but it all ended up stuck in limbo over some issues with my artist.

I have a friend who used to be a literary agent who's generouslly offered to represent me, only I looked over my latest work and noticed that there wasn't a "plot" perse. Just a bunch of action scenes randomlly strung together. So I'm now doing a massive rewrite.

That said the stuff in Jim's blog has been majorlly helpfull. I wish there was a decent creative writing program in my area I could get into.

So I've set the goal for myself of being done with my rough draft this year.

[BobSkull]

Same here. My debut novel should be done somewhere around September, and the total words should be around 100,000.

[PrimaKrieger]

Hi my name is Josh and I'm an aspiring author (obviously).

I'm working on two novels bother of them pretty much still being outlined.

The first one is traditional fantasy, the idea was sparked by a lot of fantasy roleplays on various sites, most of which I'm glad that I can't remember. I've been writing for about five or six years and the idea for this story has been nagging me for about 3.5 years. It's basically about a war for freedom where the slaves rise up and try to take down their masters because they can no longer stand how they have been treated for the past four hundred years and remember what it was like to be free. It's about the sacrifice of the main character who is leading the slaves into battle. (It's written in the third person)

The second one is an urban fantasy novel that was sparked, rather ironically, by the Dresden Files. It centers around a pyromancer, yep, you read that right. I'm a pyromaniac so I figured that I might as well have as much fun with my character as possible. Basically my character is looking for a Wizard to take him as an apprentice and train him- specifically in the area of emotional control- so that he can become a full Wizard. His main talents are- of course- in the fire elemental but he had other strong areas too. Basically he's just your average kid until he's arrested for burning someone to death. During the book he tries to prove his innocence and find out who framed him, all while trying to find a master.

[Rashad 117]

Eh, writing one myself and I should be done by late October early November.
Hmm, to sum it up quickly. It's fantasy/horror and there's some action and hot monkey love in it too with actual monkeys. But minus the feces throwing.

[RMatthewWare]

I decided January of 2006 to actually start writing.  I had played with the idea since my 10th grade English teacher got me into it.  The one thing holding me back was the thought that I would spend so much time writing, and never have anything to show for it.    I finally decided that I would write for the fun of it, and if I was published, great.  If not, then at least I did something I liked.  I've now written a few short stories, and I'm polishing off my first novel.  My writing habits are very eclectic, though.  I hit a lot of genres with my different stories, all withing the umbrella of speculative fiction.  I like stories that are strange or out of the ordinary.  I especially love any story where a character has other worldly powers.  That can include fantasy, scifi, horror, or anything in between.

Matt

[ballplayer72]

I'm working on my first book right now so wish me luck.


It's an urban fantasy inspired by Dresden, but i want it to be different and unique, not fan fic. I basically took the idea of magic existing alongside our world, and ran with it. It needs alot of work, but I think it has some potential. I've hit a snag with what to call and how to introduce the governing body of the magic world. Don't want to go for a White Council. Thinking more like a fuedal lord or something like that. With some sort of minor branch, dedicated to seeking out and training those with a newly developed talent.
Criticism is always appreciated.

BP72

[black roses]

Sheena here. I write alot of different styles, but mostly realistic fiction & romance. Right now, i'm working on two projects:

One series, which I refer to as the Lawrence Edwards Chronicles. It consists of 4 books, the 1st his life from 1-21, narrarated by him, the 2nd from 23-24, narrarated by Jake, the 3rd 27-29, narrarated by Aurelia, and the 4th 31-33, in third person.

He's a billionaire, extremely handsome, happily married to Aurelia Delarose, a psychologist. He has one son. He's perfect. But for one minor detail: Lawrence Edwards is a sociopath. He states when he was 27 that he had killed 18 people. The first one was his father. His father, in a drunken rage, had killed his mother before his eyes when Lawrence was only four. It shattered his life forever.

The second one is called Magic. This was more of a I'm-bored/annoyed-at-homophobia thing, but it ended up pretty good. Two boys, Thomas Rowley (yes, I know, T.R, but only name I could think of) and Malachi Clementine go to the same school. Circumstances begin to force them closer and closer together, then Malachi's world is destroyed. His boyfriend dies in a war, and he almost kills himself trying to kill the people who killed him. he ends up in a come for a month and is paralyzed from the waist-down for a year.

Basically, it's the tale of Thomas and Malachi,a nd their love. That's really all there is to it. It's a kind of urban fantasy, though, because the reason they have to work together is simple: Malachi is a mage. Not a full-blooded one, there aren't anymore, but 2/3rds. So is Thomas, only Thomas isn't trained, and Malachi has to teach him. And considering that the rift between this world and the Faerie Realm is weakening, Thomas has to learn fast. Because a war's coming, and they need all the help they can get simply to survive.

[Silver Phoenix]

I'm a writer too. I've been working on the first few chapters of a book about a woman who gets transported to another world and is set on a quest. Something is going very wrong on the new world she's in. The entire system of magic is starting to twist and warp and as the only person on the planet with no magic, it's up to her to figure out why. Of course there's lots more details and cool characters, but that's the basic gist.

Also, I've actually had an idea for a tv script for the Dresden Files show. It actually sprung up from an idea I have for a feature film...but I won't give it away just yet. On the very off, off, off chance that I can get it written and the show goes into more seasons, and they actually like the script. Ah, so many variables.

Good luck to you all, keep writing, and no matter what...don't give up.

[Cyclone Jack]

I scribble.

Tessellation

Round Eyes

Xangurl

Lullaby

Tessellation would probably go down the best with this crowd, being a modern fantasy. It's not urban, though. In fact, it's decidedly rural. It's set in the same world as my in-the-works novel The Crumbler.

[Doormaster]

Jeez.  Lotta people writing books around here 0_o;

Ehhhh... I'd like to be an author, but I try not to kid myself about it.  I write when I can, but my attention span just isn't long enough.  I start a story well enough, but I generally get distracted by a new idea before too long.  Hopefully I can fix that during college next year.

As you can see, I also have supreme self-confidence.

[hntdsoul]

I started writing poetry in the mid 70's and had finished my first book in the early 80's. It never saw anything but the inside of my desk. That started a very long writing path that has yet to see a publish. I'm on my 5th novel now. Of the 5 that I've written, two survive. The other three and most of my short stories and game campaigns were lost in a flood a few years ago. I've written many MANY shorts, quite a few that have been submitted. They never seem to meet current need. The same is true with my 4th novel, which was actually requested by 15 different agents and houses based on my queries. Again, it didn't meet current needs.

I'm a story teller, and I always will be. Do I want to get published? Absolutely! If I knew right now that I would never get published, would I stop writing? NOT A CHANCE!!!

To the art of storytelling, and may we embrace it as long as we draw breath!

[RMatthewWare]

I just finished by most recent draft of my novel.  I just need to get a critique, then I'll start agent-hunting.  It's take just under a year and a half, which I think isn't that bad for someone with a full time job and a baby.  I think it'll be ready for the world in just a month or two.  Very exciting.

Matt

[meg_evonne]

I write compulsively, frequently obsessively, as my filthy house contests.  I literally share with no one but after 30 years the stories and characters are really good and sometimes great.  Better yet the stories consistently have an easy flow and drop like a waterfall onto the keyboard, especially my sci-fi.  I visited Jim's journal and read some of his advice to newbies and decided that I was at a turning point, get better at the craft I love or just ferment.  Of course fermintation has it's good points, i.e. Mac's ale--but I did some research on line and dropped a sample onto mediabistro.com to see if they would accept me in a novel writing class.  Ouch--they accepted.  So I researched again--I mean if they accepted me, they must suck to be perfectly honest.  Turns out they are quite legit.  Had a blast and pounded out a novella with enough in the hopper to reach a full length novel eventually. 

It was a wonderul learning experience and the professionals in the class were complementary.  I plan on a grammar course (another big ouch!) this summer and then I'll try a class on line again with the same teacher.  None of them had the vaguest notion about sci-fi/fantasy but they enjoyed the ride and especially liked the ill-fated love relationship between two characters; so much so that they wouldn't let me kill off the female.  Luckily with sci-fi you can always figure a way to bring back a released soul from the ether, right?

Author?  no.  Wanna be?  no.  but it would be nice if I continue to grow and enjoy the craft!  Let's face it, once a character has you, it won't let you go until it's on paper.  Now I fear that the characters are yanking me out of my private nature... 

And this is my first posting. So again, a big step.

Meg

 

[hntdsoul]

Great share Meg. Welcome and happy writing.