So, how'd it go? Did you finish before Christmas? (How the hell did this pivotal thread fall onto the second page?!)
Jeez, wish I'd seen this before now...I'd have bid the stuff up to make myself look better. I just finished my next novel, THE NARROWS, a kind of phantasmagorical history of Detroit during WW2. David Brawn from these boards (whose username I have forgotten, to my undying shame) helped out a lot digging up old info on Motown history. So that comes out in October. In March or April, I think, I have a novella coming out from Subterranean Press, called THE LIFE OF RILEY. Hey, england66: here's your chance to write a stinging expose of cheating antique dealers, plus D magazine's complicity, etc. I'm serious. Pitch it to your local alt-weekly; I bet it's the kind of story they'd love.
I should do that as the piece is already written and languising in my comp. This story is, I'm sure, a nationwide problem and not just confined to Texas.
--- I found this bit: I have no idea what this means: do the workers blind the mind? do shadows saw the rot? Am I s'pos to be confused? --- otherwise, i like the curdled style, finely turned globs of description, floating in slo-mo vignettes.
I finished a book last early December. I'm 120 pages into my next one. Need to look for an agent and a publisher and all the rest. Any 1, 2, 3 suggestions? If they're more complicated than 1, 2, 3, I'm not sure I can handle them...
thanx for asking, see above post. it's been a crazy ride the last few months, at least as far as writing goes. my creative juices have been flowing. i'm kind of a beat writer, but i like to think it's more than that somehow. probably not, but one wishes. i think the second book i'm working on, the current one, is much better than the first. and i liked the first one. who knows...
You've still got about 30+ auctions on ebay for your stuff, including a couple selling signed copies of your short story collection, "Unintended Consequences." http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=377&item=3581071256&rd=1&ssPageName=WD1V Both of those are up around the 30/35 dollar mark though, so out of my book budget. Cool. I'll keep my eye out for them.
That's always a good sign. As to 1-2-3 steps to publishing, I'd pick up (or see if the local library has a copy of) the most recent Writer's Market. They usually have explicit instructions on how to contact agents, publishers etc.
I am writing a satirical Science Fiction novel. Kind of wierd but really a vent for me artistically. I am plan on doing some sort of artwork for it too.
Well, I just finished my first screenplay. The story is good (imho ), but the craft formatting will need a professional edit I'm sure. Sweet Jesus! The person who decided to critique it sure didn't go sparse with the venom.
A while back a friend and I started writing articles for a 'Victorian' magazine with no particular objective. Over a period of time these articles formed what came to be known as the "Gentlemen's Club" - a 64 page A5 magazine with articles, adverts, letters etc, which looked quite nice, but still had no objective. It would be nice to do something with it, but I've no idea what. Here's the sort of thing in it - a sample page and an advert.
I've just stumbled across this thread and enjoyed reading some of the tales. For years I've wanted to put a book together, I have outlines and research done on 3 or 4 tales that I wanted to tell. One I was ready to put together and I found the book had just been written and better than mine. Bastard! A few years ago my wife and I collaborated on a guide book to tearooms in the NW here, complete with recipes. A publishing company that specialized in cookbooks accepted it and we went through three printings with them. It's been out of print for a few years now but we still get requests for it or an updated copy. It was a really cool experience and I did the photography and the cover. I tied a pics together from my sailing trips in the San Juan Islands and the neighbour's Royal Dalton tea set, on my deck. I still want to do my novel though....someday. http://www.amazon.com/gp/reader/1929258011/ref=sib_dp_pt/102-4073563-1018568#reader-link
I think we should sticky this, to stop it from falling into obsucrity and beyond the oblivious falls of no-page land. What is kinda funny, is that I too am I failed writer. So failed in fact I have perfect ideas but no ways to convey them on paper. At first I thought this would be a massive hindernace, but then I realised even the very best get a 3 year writing block. In a way, you don't choose to write, it chooses you. Sometimes your experiences in life, can allow you to come up with that killer idea and something sparks off the creative bug in your head, to want to go out and simply tell your story to someone else. I suppose, if you are forcing yourself to write and come up with ideas, they won't be very original and innovative. The story I'm working on at the minute, is totally ironic of this thread and my and your stories; its about a regular bus journey and the lives and relationships of those people who take the same bus journey - day in - day out. They all have fatal flaws and have pretty much failed in their existence of life - reason that they take the same trip everyday. Pretty much teaches us the regime of life and harsh realities which are simply boring events frought with many difficulties - some that would seem simple but are mind-numblingly complex. Okay, I'll admit; I'm not aiming to hit De Bernieres recognition - but it would be nice I guess. If I have one tip for you, then its "characters" - make them as believable as possible and work hard at stripping them down and uncovering all their personalities, attributes and thoughts on every single event that happens. Its really key to the structure of any novel. It may be a good story. But with rubbish and often unbelievable characters - people just can't get into the story and fail to accept it on any emotional or critically human level. I hope if anyone else has any good writing tips then please share them, christ I need some. But in some ways I guess I'm lucky in that I have my whole life ahead of me.
I'm really hoping to make a second go at writing a novel after I finish my Master's this December. I feel for you, but whenever I have managed to finish something that wasn't just terrible, it was because I stuck with it. That's really it. It's easy to be too much the critic while you're trying to squeeze a first draft out, and start over again...and over again...and over...and over...etc. You've got to finish, even a rather poorly-written first draft. That's what I've learned. I've also learned my limits. I'll never write the Great American Novel. I am capable, however, of writing a few short stories which are honest and decently crafted, and which deal with issues of personal importance to me. I think--I hope--that I'm also capable of writing well-crafted, intelligent crime fiction, the kind of stuff that engages an intelligent reader and might even find enough of an audience to get a small book deal of some kind. Let's keep this thread alive, and maybe PM each other from time to time. I've got three more months until I have school off my back and can turn my attention and limited free time to my long-delayed dream of being a writer.
I think I'm going to apply for the San Antonio Express News "Teen Team." In short, teenagers from all over the city and its outlying areas can apply for one of 25 slots where they work on various assignments and stories for that year. It sounds pretty cool, and would look super on a resume. I just need to get my journalism adviser to write a reccomendation (which, given her flightly nature, is a rather cumbersome task).
From the Department of Shameless Self-Promotion: My next book, The Narrows, comes out in a week or so. There's info about it on my site, alexirvine.net -- or you can search on Amazon or the online purveyor of your choice. Also, The Life of Riley, the Subterranean Press novella I mentioned here a while ago, is set to appear in mid-October. I think. Some reviews etc. are on the site, if that's of interest. In other news, I got a job as an English professor, which is a pretty fine way to make a living. I'm teaching creative writing at the University of Maine in Orono.
Sig updated. Looking forward to the new book, as I've been trying to find something for a personal read (when you teach, it's really important to just read other stuff for fun, at least for me). The webpage looks nice. Out of curiosity, when you were offered a whole set of Marvel Comics properties, was a title called "The New Warriors" among them? Good to see you getting involved in that genre. Your appreciation for history is something sorely lacking in many of the current comic writers.
lol...the PhD is ABD (all but defended); that work produced one book, through Berg, a book which I think comes more into its own as we approach Beijing 2008...work continues on the CONCACAF and FIFA book, in consultation with a fairly prolific author in the area and his blockbuster-selling wife, who are currently willing to hardcore edit (you know; that "If we weren't friends, and if this weren't the process, I'd smack you in the mouth for that humiliating comment on my work!! )...working title no longer POLITICAL ANIMALS, but something else entirely,and entirely familiar; the PREHISTORIC WORLD book has gone from a book to a trilogy, and one that's all about me and my ideas and thoughts...the FOUNDING FATHERS screenplay? Nothing done on that in some time, but the idea remains a funny one to me and my close circle...
I'm using this not to compete, actually, but to drive my CONCACAF/FIFA work to completion this year. Thanks for reminding everyone of it; it's a solid tool to just get into the process of writing regularly, for me the biggest hump in my writing efforts...
The New Warriors weren't on the menu they offered, no. But I'm actually doing a project with DC, too: a Batman novel. Fun fun fun.
Looking forward to it. Incidentally, that son of mine I told you about, who initially put down A Scattering of Jades because of qualms over the fate of one of the characters, came back to it and is now a confirmed fan (as am I). One King was just about the only thing he read in a whole summer of sloth, for which I am grateful.
As an update while this topic is up ... I have written ..... absolutely nothing lately!!!!!!! I got so darn frustrated by getting basically no dinero from my last published short story that I decided to try a film script. That way, I figure, should anyone decide to make public display of it, I will receive some recompense for my labor. Besides, it's much more fun and enjoyable than some ultra-serious short story. Then when I'm a hugely successful screenwriter, I'll option A Scattering of the Jades. Congratulations to Irvine for his continued success.