Has anyone ever written a book?

[Futurama]

I've been thinking of writing a book lately, or at least see how it goes when I try it. Does anyone have any experiences to share, tips to give, stories etc?

 

 

 

I've been checking out the whole plan everything out method and that seems like the best way to go. I'd like to write about some sort of music artist, probably his career + love being taken away from him somehow. but with a happy ending. :D

 

 

 

so, anyone?

[VjuliusT]

Well I haven't written anything long myself, my sister on the other hand is on her fifth chapter of a book, she told me to practice on shorter stories before attempting something longer (I doubt I will though).

[RichieMcD]

I've written a book before and sent it to publishers, unfortunately it never went into print. It was still fun to write it though :D

[Lenin64]

I'm sitting on an idea, and I've got it all planned out.....just haven't started writing. War story, a squad of Imperial Marines seperated from the rest of their regiment after a huge battle in northern Australia, they have to make there way back to home ground and uncover some startling secrets that could turn the tide of the war. They're winning at that point, so those secrets are bad things.

 

 

 

If you really want to know the rest of it, you can pm me or something, i don't feel like typing it if no one really cares.

[1_man_army]

I've written a book before and sent it to publishers, unfortunately it never went into print. It was still fun to write it though :D

 

 

 

I study publishing at uni, only a small fraction of unsolicited manuscripts get published. Plus the companies usually have temps on the desk to read the unsolicited manuscripts, most of the temps either have no experience or are unpaid students.

 

 

 

In fact, there is the horror story of a temp at a publishing house in Edinburgh who rejected the first Harry Potter novel. I think somebody (possibly the BBC) also sent a number of classic novels (stuff like [bleep]ins) to a number of publishers who didn't even recognise the work so that's the sort of people you have to get through as a first time author.

[tzone92]

I've never written a book, but I have thought of it. Usually when I write things like short stories, its hard to fit everything in there that I was planning on writing without making it too long, so I can imagine writing a book about 100 pages long. A good example of a book that is the length I would write is "Of Mice and Men." A good story in the perfect space, not too long that its boring, and not too short that you finish it wishing it were longer.

[venomai]

I wrote a children's book this year. I'm thinking of sending it in to publishers.

 

 

 

Never got around to writing a full book, though. Short stories is about as far as I will go without losing interest. :lol:

[Zonorhc]

I wrote a short novel for NaNoWriMo last year.

 

 

 

Just make sure you have a lot of material you can cover. Come up with as many sub-plots as you can, because if all you want to do is cover a main story, you're going to have trouble filling up the pages.

 

 

 

You should try your hand at short stories first, and try to get them into compilations rather than starting off with your own novel. 8,000-12,000 words should be about the right length for a short piece. A very short vignette might take you up to 3-5,000 words, which you could do in a day.

[pikachu54673]

I haven't written a book, but I have tried short stories before, and I usually like the results. Maybe some day...

[flying_death_bombs55]

Ive written a 6 chapter book in 8th grade, but I don't personally have any tips.

[The Dark Lord]

I've tried, but I have too much of a short attention span to do anything long. Plus, with all the archetypes, what you write will have always been written before because what you are writing falls under an archetype. Does that make sense?

[Lenticular_J]

I currently kinda am. Just taking my time with it.

 

 

 

And to Serephurus: It's hard, but very possible to think outside of the box. Some of your writing will fall under an archetype, but (hopefully) not all of it.

[henman888]

I will never be able to write a book because it won't long enough, my stories are pretty short.

[Giordano]

I don't like writing books, I'm a Scriptwright at heart. =D (Which is sorta like a Playwright.) So far, I didn't write anything too long or fancy, but I plan to do one of my stories soon.

[malo2]

I once got to 66k words and decided to start over.

 

 

 

Don't use more than one adjective per item. For example; "Hot, dry, and dusty day" is bad writing, you should cut it down to just one to make it something like "Hot day" or "Dry day", whichever you feel is the most important. This is for multiple reasons; firstly, it will slow the reader down too much. Secondly, it makes the impression that the noun in question is weak, and needs multiple adjectives to make it significant. Thirdly, you will quickly end up using the same adjective many times over. If you use two or three adjectives per noun, the adjective will become weak, and if you have already described 5,000 other things as bright, the sun will no longer seem to be so bright.

[magekillr]

No, I have not. It's one of the things I plan on doing before I die though, and it will most likely be a dissertation of some sort or auto-biographical.

[fakeitormakeit]

Well I've written several things, as though I've never really told anyone. I'm into politics, I wrote a fairly long book on society starting at ancient mesopotamia, but only stopping at key cultures in my mind such as Greek City-States, then I used a considerable amount of space on what I consider the World War Trio (Napoleon, Hitler, Mussolinni) (Btw, yes I know, Napoleon wasn't in a World War). I've also written a mock-constitution for a hypothetical situation inwhich all European countries formed one finalized state. I also wrote a short story (25pgs.) on said European state becoming oppressive, what not and it was the perspective of the oligrachial board who commanded the state.

[Lenin64]

I just remembered the several comics I wrote that were each 8-10 pages in length. Pretty decent story, I suppose, though mostly occupied with stick violence. I guess that can kind of count as short stories?

[magekillr]

I just remembered the several comics I wrote that were each 8-10 pages in length. Pretty decent story, I suppose, though mostly occupied with stick violence. I guess that can kind of count as short stories?

 

 

 

Did any involve the Bolshevik Revolution?

[ThurinEthir]

Nope, never had, but I've kind of attempted. Never really got past page one... :lol:

 

My internet was done for about a week a while ago, and most of my games rely on it, so I had nothing to do but play around with Photoshop. I created a few maps, and then started creating a storyline. It was pretty epic, and would have taken forever to finish writing. (Not really, would've probably been like 5 pages... :P )

 

The basic storyline was war-based, about five Dark Wizards from islands in "the Far East" invading a land of humans, elves, dwarves, fish-men, and an alliance of barbaric island men. It's kind of a shame, the maps were pretty detailed, and I would feel like I've accomplished something. Maybe I'll get started on it sometime this summer, I do need something to do.

 

But um...I think I've written some really short stories for school, as well as "books" as projects, but never a fictional "novel."

[____]

The longest I got was just over 120,000 words. Never went to print, never got finished. I have it archived somewhere. Hasn't been touched for around 6 years so I doubt I could ever finish it if I even tried. The start of it was submitted for an English assignment once but that's about as close as it comes to getting out of 'draft' format.

 

 

 

 

 

My only advice is to start with short-stories; work your way up for there. And if you REALLY want to make it to print; find a damn good editor and hope for the best.

[tripsis]

Never got around to writing a full book, though. Short stories is about as far as I will go without losing interest. :lol:

 

 

 

Yeah that's my problem too lol :lol:

 

 

 

Just make sure you have a lot of material you can cover. Come up with as many sub-plots as you can, because if all you want to do is cover a main story, you're going to have trouble filling up the pages.

 

 

 

That's definitely very important. You have to pick a subject that you really enjoy so you'll have fun writing about it and won't lose interest after a few days. Secondly, you have to put a lot of time into creating a complex, detailed world so you always have plenty to write about like Zonorhc said.

 

 

 

Good luck! :thumbsup: I'd love to write a book someday.

[nine naked men]

I really don't have the attention span for writing books. I've tried like, several times, planned out a story and everything, and usually end up losing interest at about 20-25k words. I could probably do it if I focussed on it, but meh.

[dragoonson]

I'm like 13 pages into a more original idea of mine...I doubt I'll finish for a few years though lol.