#WritersCoffeeClub 5/21. Do you format as you write or do that at the end?
I write in Libre Office, using old manuscript style (Courier New etc). The one thing I format while I write are the chapter headers (style: Heading 1).
That will help me massively once I upload my file into Atticus where I do the actual ebook and print formatting. The Headings serve to determine chapter breaks and the table of contents.
This is by far the easiest process I have found for my books.
#writerscoffeeclub May 21. Do you format as you write or do that at the end?
The minute I know that something will be longer than just a scene, I do basic formatting. I'm writing in word, and it simply makes it easier to navigate the document if I've got headers, parts, and so on.
However, I do the final formatting for ebook, PB and HC only once I'm done. They differ too much, so it's 3 different docs in the end.
#WritersCoffeeClub 5/20 -- When did you first know you wanted to be a writer?
I can almost give you an exact date: Jan 30th, 2000.
That's when I started writing down the first intense scene of a story that wasn't fan fiction. It grew and grew in my mind, into three years of hyperfocus and three completed novels with four more started.
Those prompted me to sign up with an agent. (Contract long dissolved.) I've been self-publishing since 2013.
#WritersCoffeeClub Ch 9 Nbr 21 — Do you format as you write or do that at the end?
I am writing a manuscript for a fiction book or short story. Since I use a computer and now use #scrivener, the question is, what formatting? If you mean do I /italicize/ words? Yes. If you mean to I occasionally indent for stylistic meaning?
Yes.
I do.
It's ard to show on Mastodon.
Centered chapter breaks? I use a style.
Beyond that? What formatting? Scrivener blats out a manuscript when I'm done. If I want a book, I'll likely find someone to edit and design for me, if a conventional publisher doesn't buy it first.
#WritersCoffeeClub May 20: When did you first know you wanted to be a writer?
Can't say there was a time when I consciously thought this. I have kept a journal for 30 years, had some CNF stories published, wrote a couple nonfiction books... but it's only been in the past few years I accepted the title of "writer."
When did you first know you wanted to be a writer?
Honestly, I don't remember a time when I wasn't creating stories. I was on the school newspaper staff in elementary school and junior high. My best gal-pal and I co-wrote some truly cringeworthy fanfic together, and I recently found a small portfolio of poetry (some of it good, some of it not so good) that I wrote over the years.
I eventually became a journalist and then a newspaper editor. When those jobs went away (due to closures), I stopped thinking of myself as a writer for many years.
And then came that first novel. I seldom promote it these days because I've grown so much, but it's still out there.
#writerscoffeeclub May 20: When did you first know you wanted to be a writer?
Had to think about this. My first reaction was - did I ever decide I wanted to be a writer?
But I do remember the day I first wanted to write a story for real, and even where I was - roughly ten meters from where I'm sitting right now, at my parents' house. I was 12. I hated the story I had just read. Mom said - well, do better.
I said, ok.
Then I went upstairs and started to write. Haven't truly stopped ever since.
#WritersCoffeeClub Day 20: When did you first know you wanted to be a writer?
It's less that I want to be a writer and more that I get excited about writing specific things and then I write them. I am curious how many other writers have a similar mindset
To be honest, I never really wanted to be a writer. It was never something I dreamed about. My brother dreamed of being a writer and, perhaps because it was his dream, I never thought about it all that much. I mean, I had to do a lot of writing, as a student & academic. But I was never really very good at it. I always thought it was ironic to be a writing teacher. But in just the past 5 years, I've ended up an author. Weird.
#WritersCoffeeClub
20. When did you first know you wanted to be a writer?
While I've dabbled in writing before, I think it was 2018 or so (at the tender age of 42) when I came across this massive links list of public domain German-language folk tale collections at Wikisource.
And then I realized how few of them had ever been translated into English.
And then I thought to myself: "Hello, business idea!" And the rest, as they say, was history.
#WritersCoffeeClub 20/05 asks when we did first know we wanted to be a writer.
I didn't want to be a writer, so for me there was no 'I want to be' but a 'I can do this' moment, which was circa 20-25 years ago. I became a writer because I had an ability to tell stories and I'd learnt that being a disabled person in this country it was one of the few things I could do on equal terms.
Writing is a thing I have wanted to do since I was 6, or earlier. It is something I have done for more than half a century at this point even if you consider I did not really start writing extensively until I was in college.
To "be a writer" professionally or as a matter of identity is a separate question. I have never wanted that enough to let it impede the writing, or making a living. (Which may sound nuts.)
#WritersCoffeeClub May 19 - Do you agree with Hilary Mantel, who said the best qualities for writing are self-confidence and a little arrogance?
Well, it's not entirely wrong. Sooner or later, you need to be confident enough in your writing that you can hit the "Send" or "Publish" button. If you don't believe in your own writing, then who will?
#WritersCoffeeClub May 19 - Do you agree with Hilary Mantel, who said the best qualities for writing are self-confidence and a little arrogance?
Honestly? No.
Self-confidence in the sense that you believe in your story, maybe, coupled with the wisdom to understanddthat your idea may not pan out. (Come on, we all have stuff that is never going to see the light of day.)
#WritersCoffeeClub#Writing 19 Do you agree with Hillary Mantell, who said the best qualities for writing are self-confidence and a little arrogance?
I'd say yes. Self confidence is mandatory. Otherwise, our own self-doubts can and will stop us before writing the first word. A little arrogance helps, so we can say with confidence "I'm a writer", even to ourselves, without feeling like an imposter. Much…=)
#WritersCoffeeClub 19. Do you agree with Hilary Mantel that [paraphrase] the best qualities for writing are self-confidence and a little arrogance?
Jumping back into to WCC for this one because I think it's a good question. I think self-confidence and arrogance are some of the most useful qualities one can have in general (I'm not happy about it either) - writing is not the exception. Does having an excess of confidence make you a good or likable person? No, but it helps you get things done.
#WritersCoffeeClub 27 April Have you ever written a section and subconsciously plagiarised another work?
Not a whole section, just an idea. Do you recognise this?
‘Are you happy?’
It’s the only question she asks these days. I have never lied to my mother.
‘In our own way.’
She reaches out a thin hand. ‘You can’t be happy in your own way, only unhappy. I want to know about you.’
‘I am happy.’
It’s the first time I have ever lied to her. She smiles her disbelieving smile.
#WritersCoffeeClub 5/19. Do you agree with Hillary Mantell, who said the best qualities for writing are self-confidence and a little arrogance?
Necessary, but not sufficient. They are certainly not the most important. When asked in 2010, first on the list was "Get an accountant." She had just won the Costa prize for Bring Up the Bodies. For us lesser mortals, I would replace that with get a job that pays the bills.
#WritersCoffeeClub May 20: When did you first know you wanted to be a writer?
I was not expelled from my mother's birth canal clutching a wax crayon. My handwriting at school was so bad that I gravitated towards the sciences - any non-essay subject. By the time I finished my studies, the personal computer was born. Being able to produce legible documents that could be edited before printing was a game changer, but i only started writing fiction only ten years ago.