Writing Your Own Book

[Alextrategist]

I like writing stories and until now everything I published was Pokemon oneshots and other original, short stories. This summer I wanted to write something more serious and I started a book. However, I'm too lazy and inconsistent in almost everything so I tend to leave longer stories unfinished, and I first started a longer Pokemon fanfic as a test before actually going on with the book. The result was a complete fail and I prefered to leave it to later in the time, despite the prologue is written and I have many ideas on a notebook

 

The idea of the book was an expanding kingdom with internal difficulties as there's a plot to kill the king, who has no heir, and a main character who at first has nothing to do with this plot but is unwittingly involved in it

[SogYothoth]

I've tried before, though I've never succeeded. Either I just lose motivation, or I end up running out of ideas, drawing on other works for them, then thinking my work is too similar and scrapping it. I have a world, but anything plot related eludes me

[Moonlight_Eevee]

I'm trying to write a book based on a dream I had. It was about Dinosaurs and a girl who could talk to them

[kreepers_killer]

I wrote a small Minecraft book that is on sale on Amazon (it's a Kindle book, not a paper book)

[flockof-doves]

the only books I've written are fanfictions and I don't even know if that counts

[SoulFox]

Writing a book? Writing? Yes. Written? Not quite

 

I have about fifteen novels, all started, and many more ideas. But I'm lazy and only ever get stuff done during NaNoWriMo-- last NaNoWriMo I wrote 105,000 words and in the following twelve months, I've maybe written 60,000... I'm ashamed of myself :')

But yeah, I'm not published, yet. I do plan to publish, but I'd have to find a publisher who wouldn't ask me to change my plot or characters; any notion of romance, and I'll run for the hills.

Last time I wrote a romance, it ended poorly. They were all dead or irreparably damaged. I just prefer focusing on the plot as a whole rather than the idiosyncrasies of love. Plus, I'd be that person to have them be all lovey-dovey then one would stab the other.

 

I'd just make it super dark. Whoops

 

But yeah, the whole publishing process is apparently brutal, so publishing may never actually happen for me. Yet, I'm just happy to get the words being repeated in my head onto paper and realize just how real these characters are to me. I love them like they're my children (she says as she subsequently subjects them to horrific lives)

[Wildmoon]

I write a lot of fancition, if that counts.

 

although I'm pretty sure smut doesnt count

 

But I do write things other than fanfics, but I always end up getting writers block halfway through. Or I don't know how to start them.

 

Once upon a time is far too cliche, so ew. no.

But finding a proper starting sentence seems so difficult. So if anyone has tips, they'd be much appreciated. =P

 

I do have one "story" in the works, about a world in which "humans" are mass produced like dolls, in laboratories, each one being "perfect" through selective breeding/test tube babies sort of stuff.

If you are not perfect in this world, and not able to afford surgery to make you perfect (or you refuse it) you are kept hidden from sight of society, in an underground civilzation known simply as "The Ugly Farm" to the perfectionists in the above world. Basically, it's a story about how not everything has to be perfect, and how too many people strive for perfection when it's not needed.

 

I'm weird

Edited October 29, 2016 by Trickseh

[SoulFox]

I do have one "story" in the works, about a world in which "humans" are mass produced like dolls, in laboratories, each one being "perfect" through selective breeding/test tube babies sort of stuff.

If you are not perfect in this world, and not able to afford surgery to make you perfect (or you refuse it) you are kept hidden from sight of society, in an underground civilzation known simply as "The Ugly Farm" to the perfectionists in the above world. Basically, it's a story about how not everything has to be perfect, and how too many people strive for perfection when it's not needed.

 

I'm weird

Woah, thats a really unique idea! It's so different from what I've seen out there. Very creative~ I'd read it!

[The_Impossible_Girl]

I do have one "story" in the works, about a world in which "humans" are mass produced like dolls, in laboratories, each one being "perfect" through selective breeding/test tube babies sort of stuff.

If you are not perfect in this world, and not able to afford surgery to make you perfect (or you refuse it) you are kept hidden from sight of society, in an underground civilzation known simply as "The Ugly Farm" to the perfectionists in the above world. Basically, it's a story about how not everything has to be perfect, and how too many people strive for perfection when it's not needed.

This is a good idea, I hope this get published so I can read it. It's also a good time for books and other forms of media to be discussing things like this since genetic engineering is already able to engineer embryos (I think in most countries it's illegal to engineer human embryos) and a book like this might be able to get the ball rolling on ethical conversations regarding this emerging science in the average household.

[Earth Gurl]

I've written one full book (that I have no idea how to publish or even where to start with the publishing process). I have a sequel planned, but I can't find the motivation to write it. I've been working on my poetry instead, and I'd like to compile a book of poetry.

[Tehpikachu]

Do comicbooks count? 'Cause I am writing one of those. Started writing the script February last year and began the thing in full that following April. It's been... educational. And a lot of work.

[flockof-doves]

that moment when you're more excited to write out the sequel than finish the prequel

[StormWizard212]

I'm so jealous of anyone who's managed to write their own book! I would seriously love to, but I struggle with motivation/commitment issues.   

[catstaff]

I've written and published one novel so far, which started life as a NaNoWriMo project. I'm working on the second now, and planning on a third in the series. I'm also about halfway through an unrelated novel but can already see possibilities for a sequel for that one as well. (I write erotic romance; the published one with two planned sequels is a fantasy setting, the other is historical, set just before and during the start of the Revolutionary War.)

 

I published through CreateSpace, which is an Amazon company that does print-on-demand, and it's also available on Kindle. The advantage of print-on-demand publishing is that you don't have to pay oodles of cash up front for a large print run, and if you're ordering copies of your own book for promotional reasons (I donated copies to my local library, the library in the town where I grew up, etc.), you only pay cost and can order however few or many as you want. The disadvantage, of course, is that nobody really knows who you are, so you've got to promote the heck out of yourself on social media, etc, if you want to make any kind of sales. Thus far, I've sold 2 copies and 3 Kindle downloads off Amazon, relatives bought 3 of the "promotional" books I ordered for myself, and the local Barnes and Noble stocked 3 copies when I asked them to and they've sold one so far. Needless to say, I can't retire and live off my royalties anytime soon. :-P

 

So, in the interest of self-promotion... the book is titled Love In Arms and it's available through Amazon. Romance novel, fantasy setting, and yes, it contains explicit material. Back-cover summary:

 

Frustrated by a lack of answers after her brother went missing in action while serving in the Mennetite army against the invading forces of Eriden, Narra Cledyss grew desperate enough to disguise herself as a man and enlist in her efforts to learn her brother's fate. Assigned to a battalion on the front lines, she tried to ignore the initial attraction she felt for the ruggedly handsome man in charge of the scouts.  
Sergeant Karsin Draeviss had served in the army since well before the war started, and as a scout, had excellent observational skills. He knew something was off with the more recent orders coming in, but hadn't yet discovered the origin. When physical contact during a skirmish with the enemy revealed his new scouting partner to be a woman, his first thought was to have her sent home. But when he heard her story and realized her brother was one of the earliest victims of the bad orders, he agreed to keep her secret and help her in her quest. 

 

But their growing closeness brought them an enemy more persistent than any Erideni soldier; an enemy that continued to harass them even as they worked at building a new life together after the war.

[Starscream]

I have multiple fanfic books, that are only published on line either my website, or Deviantart. I have a world I may use for an original fic at some time in the future, but I prefer writing my fanfics.

 

I have several short stories, about 5 -  20 pages, and several much larger that are 50 -  250 pages. Currently I am working on two that are over 100 pages. I have 8 stories that can be merged into a super book, or series, I call Starscream Chronicles -  Also named: All Hail Lord Starscream.

Stories: Short and long are

1. Inverted Insignia
2. The Red Sky
3. A Purple Light
4. The Night Fall
5. Final Solution
6. Sky cities
7. Fugitive
8. Blood of Primus (currently in Progress) (55k words in 90 days (removing the 45 days I could not write because we were moving house)

Other stories I have are:

Seeker of Vengeance (my first transformers fic)

Antilla (a yet incomplete stargate x transformers cross over(wrote myself into a corner))

Christopher Eagle (in progress but on hold)

 

I have a number of short stories as well floating around

 

For me writing is not so much as the story, I got these ideas that I want to write down, but my ability to learn how to improve as a writer. maybe if I get a more solid grasp on Grammar and whatnot, then I can sit down and write something of my own idea. At the end of a day - I work in a kitchen -  I like to sit down and dive into my mind movie and write it out. I find it very relaxing and enjoyable.

 

I may allude to love here and there in my fics, but it is never a main part. I am not find of slash stories or smut stories.

 

My inspiration happens when I should be sleeping. 3am is my best plot bunny hour. that's when the plot bunnies arise and start to bound around my brain and won't stop until I get out of bed and release them on "paper". I may or may not follow through on them.

Edited September 17, 2017 by Starscream

[spatio]

I adore reading and writing, but I'm so darn picky about my stories and characters that I almost never write anything I like.  I'll write 30k+ words of a novel, reread it, decide it's crap and start a rewrite. :c I've gotten positive feedback, I'm just not confident in my own abilities yet I suppose.  So, lump me in with the majority of the population: "Of course I'm writing a novel!  I never said anything about finishing it, though."

 

And I do agree with the over-saturation of romance nowadays.  Like, y'all realize people can just be friends, right?  So yeah.  Not opposed to writing/reading romance, but only when the romance actually adds something to the story or is the focus of the story, not just some subplot shoehorned into an otherwise non-romantic situation.  As in, ah yes, 'tis the zombie apocalypse and we realistically would mainly be concerned with food and not, ya know, dying, but lemme just have a grand romance here anyhow.  No, no, it's fine.  It's fine.

[Ramica]

I've never had a book published, I have had a young adult fantasy book turned down numerous times but have such hopes for it, it is one of my favourites that I have written.

 

However, I have had some short stories published if that counts for anything. I had a short story published in a book put out by the SPCA in British Columbia Canada -the book was titled How I learned to speak dog and other animal stories. The other story published went into Chicken Soup for the Soul one of their dog story ones called I can't believe my dog did that! I also was one of the winners in a writing contest from a magazine where you had to write about why your city/town was one of the best to live in. 

 

So, I have been published.

[Aries]

Things in my country are pretty bad for young (or not) autors who want to publish their own work. Here are so many tallented people but the thing is you have to finance your book by yourself, which means about 2k bucks to publish it and make some noise so people would pay some attention and some of them, maybe, will buy it. If you are not a big deal, a rich kid or a celebrity you have no chance. Of course you can enter in some contests but 90% of them are not fair and the winner is someone cloce to the jury.

 

Yes, I write, a lot, mostly because I cannot find what I need to read and I am pretty bored from everyday's life. Well look at me, breeding cartooned dragons... Well I write poetry but that's not actually my thing, so I prefer fantasy or criminal stories, have a few of them.

[coo_]

Like others who have posted, I've written a few fanfics. Harry Potter ones, to be exact, haha.

 

I've done many different styles of writing - poetry, short stories, a finished play, and multiple articles for my college newspaper and for local magazines.

Currently working on a novel that I've been dreaming up for about 10 years. I'm only 5,000 words in, but I'm so happy that I've at least started. Writing has always been therapeutic for me, and I'm glad that since I've graduated I have more time to spend doing so.

 

"We do not write because we want to; we write because we have to." -W. Somerset Maugham

[WildDragonFlying]

Oh god I have a whole profile on AO3(under the same username) with all of my fanfictions lol I've been writing since I was about 10, so that's definitely over a decade now(but not more than 2 and that's as specific as I'll get )

 

I do have one book published through CreateSpace on Amazon that I shall not name because I.... published it when I was 12 and I really should not have >.>

 

I am published as part of this anthology, available as a Kindle book for $4.99(it's an anthology of Halloween/Samhain-related.... explicity stuff lol), and I'm rather proud of my work there because I generally do not write that sort of thing myself but I thought I did fairly well lol

 

I do have one original project currently in the works that I really want to have the first draft of finished soon; it's a story I've been working on in my head for years now and finally decided to take the plunge and commit to (digital) paper.

[Minkerbell]

I've always enjoyed writing fiction and have ghost written a couple of romantic novels. I'm trying to find the time to write something under my own name eventually. I admire all those who have had the time and dedication to not only write a novel but to look into getting it proofread and published as well. I've somehow never gotten beyond just the writing bit; which is why I've resorted to satisfying my writing urges by ghost-writing things for others. I get the satisfaction of creating things, even if it means that I have to relinquish ownership over my words. At least I know that my words are reaching others somewhere out there. 

 

 

Edited January 15, 2018 by MinkishMinx

[Peachycupcake525]

I fully intend to write a book eventually, although I can't seem to finish anything. I'm just practicing for now, so that I'll be able to write well when I have a good idea.

[HeatherMarie]

I haven't written a word of fiction since the beginning of November and it's sort of pissing me off. I started NaNoWriMo in November as usual, struggled to write the first 300 words, got insanely behind, and gave up. Only the 2nd time since 2003 that I simply gave up on even attempting NaNo. The annoying thing is that I *do* have ideas... One of my stories that I sorta-finished last year but there are some holes that need to be filled in, I have an idea for filling in the three weeks before the ending, and I'm rather excited about that idea. It sort of helps to show just how big a deal the character's confession at the end really is, and I think it'll be an important addition to the story. But... I just can't write it. I have literally written it out in my head, every single word, but I open the document and just... Can't actually write it out. 

 

I technically write a lot of what could be considered 'romance', but I don't like to label it that because I really hate a lot of those 'romance' series with like no character development and their entire lives are just that romance. My stories are more focused on the character's lives, their journeys and struggles and such, and any romance is sort of secondary to that. My longest story is actually fanfic, at 124k words, and while it does revolve around the two main character's relationship it's not totally focused on romance and lovey-dovey stuff, it's more about overcoming issues that keep them from each other, dealing with one of the character's terminal illness, dealing with an old flame that suddenly reappears, etc. 

[Paintra]

I'm generally a poet, but I can't help but vary my writing from time to time. I've got a horrible, horrible case of purple prose, which I suppose must have stemmed from the fact that I used to write next to nothing whatsoever. ^^;;

 

My longest piece of writing from this year has only reached 8000 words, but I also have several at around 5000. I unfortunately have no record of a lot of my very, very old writing, but I'm certain some of that reached to upwards of 70-80k words. My current project, seeing as I tend to jump from project to project after losing interest, is at 1.8k words... So, not as great as it could be, but I'm working on it.

Wishing luck to all the others hoping to get a work of theirs published eventually!

[hazeh]

I have three different novels I'm working on, with all vastly different fantasy elements in them (well, two of them are dragon-rider related, but that's about it as far as similarities) so I can bounce between them whenever muse for one particular subject is low. But that also means I don't ever finish any of them, since I'm constantly moving back and forth. 

It also doesn't help that I've thrown writing fanfiction into the mix, which I've been working on exclusively for the past...uh, five months or so. I think it's mostly because I can post those chapters as soon as I'm finished and get feedback and interest, which helps my motivation, which I don't get with my novel writing. 

For the novels themselves, I've won a NaNo twice with two of them. But my (other) problem is that as soon as Nano is done, I give myself a break, and then when I pick it back up I just scrap what I had written in order to rewrite it all completely. Most of the time it works out for the better though, since I'll have more plot or new characters to introduce. But it's still a pain. I don't honestly remember what the word count on any of the current versions are, but I think the dragon racer one is around.... 30k? More, maybe? 

I laugh at myself for having two different fanfictions that are 80k and 50k respectively, and I'm pounding those out almost effortlessly. Ugh.