Amen to that, Anne. Deb, you are a writing machine!
-t, Sail, insent. And thank!
Mal: Gotta say, doctor, your talent for alienatin' folk is near miraculous. Simon: Yes, I'm very proud.
'Safe'
The Great Write Way, Chapter Two: Twice upon a time...
A place for Buffistas to discuss, beta and otherwise deal and dish on their non-fan fiction projects.
Strix - May 27, 2006 4:47:23 am PDT #6784 of 10001
A dress should be tight enough to show you're a woman but loose enough to flee from zombies. — Ginger
Topic!Cindy - May 27, 2006 5:17:25 am PDT #6785 of 10001
What is even happening?
That's amazing. You've written so much--all of it quality stuff--in just one year? Wow.
If another author took five years to write what Deb's written in one, we'd call her prolific.
SailAweigh - May 27, 2006 6:43:22 am PDT #6786 of 10001
Nana korobi, ya oki. (Fall down seven times, stand up eight.) ~Yuzuru Hanyu/Japanese proverb
What Cindy said. It seems like it must have taken you much longer, Deb, but we all know it didn't. All I gotta say is, thanks for keeping us so entertained with them over the past year! Whoot! Sincerely hoping your agent can find a publisher for them as I want to actually own them.
Strix - May 27, 2006 7:34:00 am PDT #6787 of 10001
A dress should be tight enough to show you're a woman but loose enough to flee from zombies. — Ginger
Woo. I woke up crazily early -- for me -- and emailed Sail and -t, and edited and wrote 2 more pages.
Compared to Deb, I am a piker, but I feel all accomplished. Go team me.
deborah grabien - May 27, 2006 8:06:27 am PDT #6788 of 10001
It really doesn't matter. It's just an opinion. Don't worry about it. Not worth the hassle.
Erin, totally go team you. And this isn't my normal output level either - that's the whole point. I'm looking at nearly 400K words of fiction this past year - not including song lyrics or drabbles - and thinking, the FUCK?....
Strix - May 27, 2006 8:13:54 am PDT #6789 of 10001
A dress should be tight enough to show you're a woman but loose enough to flee from zombies. — Ginger
I keep tapping out more sentences.
Can't...stop...writing...bitchy...character!
I have 27 1/2 pages! 3 and 1/2 chapters!
Woo!
And a headache. But I am chuffed.
Typo Boy - May 27, 2006 8:19:23 am PDT #6790 of 10001
Calli: My people have a saying. A man who trusts can never be betrayed, only mistaken.Avon: Life expectancy among your people must be extremely short.
Deborah. BTW I note that Cruel Sister can now be pre-ordered at Amazon. If any of your Beta readers want to write a review there, I understand this can improve sales, and that pre-orders sales can affect how publishers promote your stuff.
Strix - May 27, 2006 8:24:28 am PDT #6791 of 10001
A dress should be tight enough to show you're a woman but loose enough to flee from zombies. — Ginger
Technical types questions:
1 -- Potential saleable novel formatting: Double-spaced? page Numbers?
2 -- AmyLiz, et. al. -- Any idea of average/desirable page length for contemporary setting paranormal romance with a lot sex and the use of the word "fuck" in it? Ideas for publishers whose sites I could look at for ideas on this? Potential publishers? Jumping the gun, I know, but I'm a Virgo, and I like ahead-of-time info.
3- Dialogue: I'm leaning towards minimum use of "He said "Blah"/she argued "Yaddah." Going more for back and forth, except when need to use "speaking" verbs to indicate who's talking, and mood. Thoughts?
Amy - May 27, 2006 8:29:24 am PDT #6792 of 10001
Because books.
Erin:
Page numbers -- YES
Double spaced -- YES (OMG yes)
Length -- Should be in the at least 85,000 word range, 90,000-100,000 words more likely. (Shorter stuff could possible go to Harlequin, which has a new paranormal line coming out, I believe.)
Publishers -- Anything from Harlequin to Dorchester to Kensington to all of the others. Paranormal is hot right now, and so is sex. Best thing to do is putter around the bookstore, find some books you think are like what you're writing, and check the publisher. Caveat: Many of the biggies will accept only agented submissions.
Dialogue -- You need tags when dialogue has gone on a while, so readers can keep track, and always when more than one person is talking.
Other questions, just shout. You have my email, yes?
Typo Boy - May 27, 2006 8:33:29 am PDT #6793 of 10001
Calli: My people have a saying. A man who trusts can never be betrayed, only mistaken.Avon: Life expectancy among your people must be extremely short.
3- Dialogue: I'm leaning towards minimum use of "He said "Blah"/she argued "Yaddah." Going more for back and forth, except when need to use "speaking" verbs to indicate who's talking, and mood. Thoughts?
Deborah helped me with this last one when I was having problems in a drabble. You can indicate the speaker in other ways: Body language, tone of voice, etc.
Mike's clenched fists relaxed, palms opened. He look earnestly into her eyes. "I'd never lie to you".
(Wanna bet Mike is lying through his teeth?)
(Actually this feels like a good spot for a rare "he said" - but you get the idea.)