Genuine question for #WritersOfMastodon - with the rise of AI generated everything, is it now possible to be published by an actual publisher? I'd heard it was virtually impossible before AI but presumably they're now inundated by manuscripts that are either part or fully AI creations. I ask because I always assumed I'd write my great novel one day, but it seems vanishingly unlikely now. I have 2 brothers who's father was a successful author, although he had his foot in the door via being a reporter (who brought down Concorde and was the only person ever allowed to interview/write a book about Pablo Escobar), so was already semi-famous and had contacts. I met a published author the other week, but she's a proof-reader for Penguin books, so also has a foot in the door. I assume that if you write something you're happy with, you no longer just send it to publishers and hope they read? Interested to know if anyone has had any success with this or if everyone self-publishes now.
@TheBreadmonkey If you’re a podcast listener, a new show called ‘Paper Places’ seems relevant. Host Kerry Provenzano is both chronicling her own journey towards publishing her first book and interviewing published authors about their experience.
Hmm, only 26 followers after being on Mastodon since November 2022? Ok, here is my intro again: (ex) Full stack web developer with Bread and Roses Creative, full time artist (now) and food critic (currently) with Chuck Eats KC. Kansas City-based web dev since the dawn of browsers (1995). Focus these days is one creative stuff: writing, food criticism, photography, streaming, art, and making fun videos.#Artists#Intros#Writers#FoodCritics#Fediverse#WebDev
@thepoliticalcat Red horse-chestnut tree in Loose Park, KCMO. I found out recently that iPhones have a feature in the camera that identifies birds and plants.
#psa Okay, learned a lesson today. I either missed this or the setting changed in an update. Both #OneDrive and #Dropbox have a setting for keeping all the files in the cloud rather than on your Mac, downloading them as you need them. This means that if you need them and the service is responding poorly, or you have no connectivity, you can't get to your files. If you use #scrivener, for example, which syncs through dropbox, this can cause sync errors between devices!
Both services appear to set all files online only. Both services have a way to change this to ensure all files are downloaded for offline use.
#Writers, #authors, as well as #artists, I strongly suggest you keep your files on disk as well as in the cloud. Change these settings now!
📚 #Writers, #readers, #vocabulary nerds: opinions, please? Reading or using term "faux pas"--we all know basic definition: social blunder. But do you assume-and/or do you think others assume--the term implies that the blunder happened b/c someone knew better & "oops, forgot!" Or that the blunder happened b/c someone didn't know better in 1st place? No wrong answers here. I just have reasons for wondering how others view this. Any input appreciated! 😎
QUERY: I have completed my first novel (5 years, 10 drafts) and now await word from a prospective agent who asked to see the m.s. Waiting is excruciating. I also feel a bit lost -- no reason to get up at 5 a.m. anymore; I miss my characters; I miss the writing.
What do you do while waiting for response to your completed work (from an agent or publisher or contest)?
@gg
Completing a novel AND actually submitting it is a great achievement that requires celebration! Too many people never get to that stage. You can call yourself an author, even a novelist, now.
That said, if becoming an author as a career is you goal, I suggest the following:
/Write the next story!/
Being an author is almost always about the next story. I HIGHLY suggest short pieces. I'd probably take one of my existing main or secondary characters and write about the next events in their lives, or backstory. Keep it short, aiming for the low side of 1000-5000 words. When you finish one...
...Write the next.
Practice is essential, and your writing will get better!
Think about the sequel to this novel, or come up with an idea for the next big book, too. Set a goal of writing it in less than six months (every 5 years is not going to make you a living), and it doesn't have to be perfect. That's why there are editors, beta readers, and proofreaders. It needs to be complete, however. Your shiny new publisher or agent is going to say, "That's nice. Tell me about your next story."
You CANNOT rely on your publisher to promote your work. Promotion may end up being partially or solely your job. Your publication month may feature a best selling author, and that author will get all the advertising. That happened to me...
You're on Mastodon. That's a good start, but USE HASHTAGS (see below) Begin a blog, for example on Wordpress, in the fediverse, or elsewhere. Create a simple web site. Post interesting things you found in your research, articles found on the Internet, your thoughts about writing, your journey to becoming published. Daily if you can; keep it going. You want people to come back, to know your name and associate it with interesting things. Make it exciting, if you can come up with those ideas. Be sure to use the name you are going to publish under; make it into a brand name.
Oh, and those little short stories you wrote? You can publish those on your website or to your blog so people can get a taste of your work. Consider writing serial fiction.
So. Is that enough to do while you wait? What are you waiting for?
The world isn't going to discover how wonderful you are without you making sure they know.
1/5 Got tagged by @madikonrad over at Tumblr for the 'Questions For Your OC'!! – answer 3 questions as your main OC(s) – since we’re #writers, we can write this as a narrative, first-person, or RPG style - anyway we wish.
When done, provide 3 new questions to pass on to the next creator. (you then tag others with 3 new questions)
My main OC’s are Aedan the Ancalite and Lucius Scipio Servius, and the following questions are from sapphic author, Madeline Konrad.
#questionsForYourOC: I got tagged by @NaraMoore to answer three questions about one of my original characters. (Since we’re #writers, we can write this as a narrative, first-person, or RPG style - anyway we wish. When done, provide 3 new questions to pass on to the next creator and tag others with 3 new questions.
1. If you could start over what would you do differently?
I'd start over at the point I found where my childhood friend had attended school. I'd thought he betrayed me, though years later I realized I should have asked why when he disappeared from my life. The school had a privacy policy. Were I to attend—and I was offered a scholarship—I could find out where he'd gone (they knew), but otherwise, no. I'd likely be found out as a runaway and my scholarship wouldn't keep me from being shipped home.
I'd take the risk instead of running. I should have attended. I'd not have learned to fight and lead, but I'd never have become a criminal, either, forced or conned into doing increasingly evil things. I might actually have led a normal life!
2. If you could go to any alternate universe and start over what would that universe be like?
The more I study it, the more I realize the magic determines our destiny, or at very least freezes it so we can't change it. Ultimately, our willpower fails us. It's evil. I'd search for a universe lacking magic, where muscle and intelligence are most important, where everyone is equal. Without magic, people will have to be able to live their lives as they see fit.
3. If you could instantly kill or save someone, including someone long dead, who would it be and why?
I'd save my mother. I'd prevent her from going on that last mission where she got killed. Better yet, I'd convince her that her best friend was no friend at all. I convince her that were I to become orphaned, that friend of hers would go on to ruin my life. She'd not die and I'd have a family that loved me.
This comic should amuse #writers. I did some research on the #etymology of the cited #homonyms and wrote this to my lit friend. My thoughts, anyway, which may amuse ewe:
It is obvious from an orthographic perspective that many sounds represented by groups of letters in English ought be pronounced differently and emphasized, putting aside that Germanic and French derivatives are also different. Problem is that human hearing and blurring of sounds due to regional accents mean we do a lot of error checking so accurate sounds don't always matter. As such, we have homonyms which shouldn't logically exist because we learn language by hearing not reading. But humans aren't logical (and are lazy speakers) and language is living. Scent = sss sen t. Sense = sen sss with a weak seh at the end. Scent without emphasis on the introductory s sound, sent, and cent are homonyms. Scent is from the French and cent from the German. Sent is the past tense of send so doesn't count.
@sfwrtr Since I pronounce the two words /sɛns/ and /sɛnts/, the whole comic looks a little weird to me. The only way I can make sense (oops) of it is to assume that one or both people are being really sloppy about their diction. (Which I guess is part of what you were saying.)
@kagan
Yeah. I see that. To me, this IS like making characters act out of character to make the plot work, in a sense😋 . Sloppy isn't the word so much as obtuse. I actually didn't pick up on that weirdness, but I agree now that you've pointed it out. Not entirely off point, just yesterday I wrote a scree about a serial I'm reading where the young girl ghost POV who's always curious is written NOT to be curious about one thing that likely would have sent the plot off an intended plot line. It wasn't lampshaded at all, which severely disappointed me. Authors aren't who you want reading your stories! Yeah, I think the comic was forced to make it work, rather than dismiss a questionable dichotomy.