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Post by schizophonic on May 17, 2009 2:10:09 GMT -5
I like "Keys to Chaos," BTW.
If you're writing for fun, as your primary goal is, there's no problem in talking sequels. If you write to be published, it can actually be a boon to have a second one in the tank. statistically, a first book tends to lose a publisher money, so publishers like to have some level of assurance they can build a working relationship and get some money back.
I'm editing my second and writing my third. I want to get published, but I'm not writing with an assumption I will. Just, you know, I want to be writing, as well. I want to make this a series, even if it's just for fun, but I'd rather it be published if I can.
My problem is I don't really have a series title. I'm sure it doesn't matter too much, so I haven't beaten myself up over it. Though I may steal Keys to Chaos, even though it doesn't fit with my series whatsoever.
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Post by Admiral Lithp on May 17, 2009 2:30:42 GMT -5
Why, thank you. I don't really mind if someone else steals the title, it's just that, in light of my stated goal, I want to make sure everything I come up with is as original as I can possibly make it.
For instance, among my various concerns that are contributing in my procrastination to continue with the latest chapter &/or edit what I already have, is that I'm concerned that I may have been influenced a bit more than I intended to allow myself to be.
Then, there's the problem of picking out those few ideas that someone beat me to. Anyone see the Watchmen movie, where Ozymandias made people think there was a God (Dr. Manhattan) watching over them to control them? Yeah, that was an idea I was kicking around long before I even heard of Watchmen, only in a much more literal sense.
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Post by schizophonic on May 17, 2009 11:13:49 GMT -5
I'm betting it varies from person to person, but I write a rough draft to get it done and keep the flow, then I go back and edit for length and grammar/spelling/punctuation.
In my case, I've had a fantasy novel I've been working on since the early nineties, and I always go back and revise, edit, and correct. And it keeps not getting done. Contrast that with the fact that I'm on Pulp/Urban Fantasy novel number three, and I might be published and/or on book five if I didn't spend a year thinking I was DYING and unable to even sit for long periods.
Only problem is, in editing book 2 I'm rewriting a large portion of the beginning. The writing style after my interruption is quite different. I keep worrying I'm going to keep revising if I don't keep going.
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Post by Sigmaleph on May 17, 2009 14:20:35 GMT -5
Then, there's the problem of picking out those few ideas that someone beat me to. Anyone see the Watchmen movie, where Ozymandias made people think there was a God (Dr. Manhattan) watching over them to control them? Yeah, that was an idea I was kicking around long before I even heard of Watchmen, only in a much more literal sense. Happens a lot, really. I had the idea of a character that got the ability to know the remaining lifespan of a person after making a deal with a god of death, and then I read Death Note. I got the idea of a sword that can cut anything based on the emotion of the wielder, and then I read The Sword of Truth. Odds are, most ideas have already been used by someone, somewhere. The trick is making sure you don't copy from the popular ones.
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Post by Admiral Lithp on May 17, 2009 18:33:57 GMT -5
I do roughly the same thing. Write the chapter, run a spellcheck, edit it for spelling/grammar myself 'cause Word's a douche, edit it for stuff like flow and content, lather, rinse, repeat, then finish off with a final spellcheck. The problem comes in when I have x number of chapters down. Ideas have changed, my writing abilities may have changed, etc. So, every now and again, I like to edit everything I have. (I'm very anal.) I usually don't have a problem with length, though. Yeah, that's the worst. Right now, I'm just really out of the routine, and (I might have mentioned this somewhere else) part of the purpose of this thread was to get me back into that frame of mind. I'm thinkin' I might get a lot done during the summer, but who knows? I'd definately be interested in seeing what kind of stuff you do. ...What? Yeah, that'll probably be me, whenever I get back to it. Yeah, I tried this little experiment ages ago, but my capabilities just changed too fast. I figure, at my late adolescent years, they've probably pretty much plateued, so that's why I decided to try again. Reused some basic concepts from way back then, oddly enough. Couldn't give you any of that, though, as I threw it away ages ago. It was sort of embarassing. I mean, I had to have been in 3rd grade, at the time. :\ It sounds like you need a trustworthy editor. (Not volunteering. Just making an observation. You probably wouldn't want someone who seems to be almost as--if not more--anal than you, anyway.) Oh, I know. I remember coming up with the idea of a reward Keyblade for beating Sephiroth in Kingdom Hearts called the One Winged Angel. Guess what was added to Final Mix? I was pissed that I never got to use it. >_> That'd suck. But it seems to me that, if the ideas are different enough, it wouldn't really matter. I mean, you make no mention of a notebook that kills people. Never heard of it. Empathetic weapons are even more common than deals with the devil, though. :/ Yeah, basically. I would say this & trying to do it in a new &/or interesting way. I mean, Ozy, as mentioned earlier, isn't the first to try to create a utopia. But he's probably the first to try to do it by custom-making a giant, alien squid to blow up & take half of New York with it.
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Post by Sigmaleph on May 17, 2009 19:52:53 GMT -5
Never heard of it. Empathetic weapons are even more common than deals with the devil, though. True, but the coincidences were a bit unsettling. The titular sword of truth can cut through anything, provided the wielder is angry enough, and has another emotion based power. A description that also applies to my sword, sans the name. The other power is different, though.
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Post by Admiral Lithp on May 17, 2009 19:55:12 GMT -5
Never heard of it. Empathetic weapons are even more common than deals with the devil, though. True, but the coincidences were a bit unsettling. The titular sword of truth can cut through anything, provided the wielder is angry enough, and has another emotion based power. A description that also applies to my sword, sans the name. The other power is different, though. What's the other power? Were the swords described the same?That was worded really bad. What I meant to say was something along the lines of; "How was their sword described physically, as opposed to yours?"
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Post by schizophonic on May 17, 2009 22:51:52 GMT -5
I do roughly the same thing. Write the chapter, run a spellcheck, edit it for spelling/grammar myself 'cause Word's a douche, edit it for stuff like flow and content, lather, rinse, repeat, then finish off with a final spellcheck. The problem comes in when I have x number of chapters down. Ideas have changed, my writing abilities may have changed, etc. So, every now and again, I like to edit everything I have. (I'm very anal.) I usually don't have a problem with length, though. My first novel was really short on the first one. Now I know better, so my first draft of the second is about right. I have feeling that after I revise, it'll need to be trimmed a little, but I'd rather have too much than too little. At least then I won't feel the need to fluff. Before I started that first novel in this series, I'd never particularly planned on writing for publishing, so I kind of learned everything on the fly. My current problem is that I'm aware of things I left out. So as I'm writing, I'm trying to fill in those "meant tos." Yeah. I fell out of habit too, and it's a bear getting back in. I've been considering posting a couple of chapters on FSTDT, so I might. I'm a diabetic. I was on Avandia, the drug they were talking about banning. So I ended up on Actos, instead. Actos is the new wonder drug. Avandia, of course, was a wonder drug before it became so controversial. I started taking Actos and got real sick. But the thing is, it was cold and flu season and it seemed like a virus. Close enough for jazz, at least. So I keep getting sicker, and the doctors are running tests on me, and can't find a problem. eventually, it dawns on me that I started getting sick around the time I got on Actos, and I dropped it. I started getting better almost immediately, but because I assumed it was a flu or some such, it wasn't directly clear that it was the new med. I did get so bad I was shaky even sitting up, though. Freaking terrible. And when they can't find a cause, you're sitting there thinking it must be REALLY bad. I probably still have the very first draft of my fantasy novel somewhere, since I was anti-technology at the time. I carried around the same notebook for years. I had to replace the cover, etc., but I didn't want to rely on those stupid floppies. Now, I do everything digital. LOL. But yeah, my writing style changes pretty fast. Every new pass becomes more polished, so it's tempting to just keep buffing and buffing. I had someone at one point. Really did help. I'll find another eventually. Since I effin' hate editing. I'd just as soon not do it if I could avoid it. Doesn't mean people won't catch the similarity, though. Depends on how worried you are, I guess. I stopped caring for the most part a couple years back, because I learned that if I changed stuff every time I found a similarity, I'd be as stuck as I was all them years with my fantasy novel. Right now, I'm aware of several similarities between my writing and that of other, established works. I decided to run with it and hope I can stand on my own. but GOD, is it hard to not nick something else. Just the fact that I'm writing in pulp detective style borders me along Jim Butcher's Dresden Files, for example. Ozymandias and the other characters in Watchmen were all deliberate twists on the themes of comic books. A deliberate attempt to take the normal roles and characters and turn them on their arses. Probably helps the originality of the characters. I agree with the interesting bit, though. I mean, how many characters that we enjoy are entirely original? The best ones make the characters interesting, even if they're clichéd.
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Post by Admiral Lithp on May 17, 2009 23:45:19 GMT -5
Personally, I prefer to have too little. Although, that's just because when a book goes overboard on descriptions, I tend to get bored with it & drop it. Just a difference in preference, I guess. Do it. *Creepy grin.* I can understand that. I used to rely on floppies, but the more projects I did, the more I realized that the only thing they were good for is sunglasses. (Stare at the sun through the actual disc part. It's freakin' sweet.) I use flash drives now, although since I'm paranoid of someone looking over my shoulder & going, "What's that," or opening it while I'm not there, (I think I may have a problem...) I just keep the file on my home computer, unless I'm going on a trip & actually have plans to edit. I've never really had anyone I could trust with the job. So, I tend to just get opinions from some people I talk to online, then make the final decision & just run with it. Depending on how similar it is, you can just not give a shit. "The older brother is the villain. Sounds a lot like Itachi." "And like half of every fraternal pair of siblings in fiction since the dawn of time. What's your point?" I hear that.... Never heard of it. Yeah, I knew that. On that subject: Fuck Alan Moore. I don't care what he thought when he wrote it, Nite Owl II is Batman, not the Blue Beetle. >_> *Points to avatar.* And his rival antagonist from the preceeding game. And pretty much every other FF character. And et al.
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Post by Sigmaleph on May 18, 2009 12:14:37 GMT -5
Can't go into much details, because mine was never established (kept switiching between two) and the other is a spoiler. Enough to say they have nothing to do with each otherDon't remember much (I don't pay a lot of attention to descriptions) but they weren't alike.
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Post by schizophonic on May 18, 2009 16:13:31 GMT -5
Personally, I prefer to have too little. Although, that's just because when a book goes overboard on descriptions, I tend to get bored with it & drop it. Just a difference in preference, I guess. May also be difference in content. I do a lot through dialogue, myself. I came up with the description of "Gilmore Girls Meets Indiana Jones...." YOU JUST WANT TO STEAL IT! Nah, I got over my paranoia a while back. I'm just a bit...Shiy about exhibiting my works. I didn't have a computer for a good chunk of high school. Which is a shame, since my hands hate writing and lo0o0oooove the keyboard. I can't type for crap, but that hasn't stopped me. My primary storage medium is an SD card, but I have it set to back up frequently. bad experience with a shitty Dell. Unfortunately, mine got a little...Obsessed with me. So now I'm gun shy. I know. Some people are so anal. So like I said, I personally stopped caring. Harry Dresden's a Wizard for hire. In the Chicago phone book, no less. only real similarities I can see, aside from the narrative style, are that the main character is a detective. Oh, and since her best friend and (sometimes) sidekick is a Mage who can blow shit up, there's a similarity to Harry Dresden there, I guess. I'm sure people will find others. Especially ones I didn't even notice, but hey. I really don't care too much. I could go back and try and write out anything similar to the series (It's popular enough, though no Harry Potter) or soldier on. Heh. I always thought of "The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe" as having more Pagan connotations than Christian ones. So I know what you mean. And pretty much any other JRPG. I love Skies of Arcadia, but MAN, are Vyse and Ramirez uninspired. Certain genres are really hard to break out of clichés, though. I've been looking around for non-typical mythic creatures to toss around. All my mythology studies were so long ago.... Not that I'm trying specifically to be different, but it's fun to spice things up at least.
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Post by Admiral Lithp on May 19, 2009 19:55:04 GMT -5
Umm...do I want to know...?
When you go back & look at shit with the Christianity thing in mind, it's actually a little creepy. Especially with the whole Revelations type thing at the end.
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Post by schizophonic on May 20, 2009 16:20:08 GMT -5
We had a sexual relationship. Yeah. She went nuts....
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Post by Admiral Lithp on May 20, 2009 21:42:30 GMT -5
Is she interested in another one?
...
I think I just implied that a woman would have to be crazy to want to have sex with me.
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Post by schizophonic on May 22, 2009 0:13:02 GMT -5
Is she interested in another one? ... I think I just implied that a woman would have to be crazy to want to have sex with me. Hell, I'll flat out say someone has to be crazy to want to have sex with me.
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