OGone
Troubadour
More or less the topic title. I want to write a high fantasy novel, I've envisioned a world and I've got the ideas/plots to crank out 5-6 books (and possibly another few but their plots are loose). However, I'd really like that universe to be successful and so I want to practice with other, unrelated ideas first to give it the best chance possible in getting published. I mean, my first book is bound to suck and I don't want to set that tone for the series, if you know what I mean? (is rewriting a possibility in cases like this?)
Anyways, I have a much better, more marketable idea which is more a sci-fi/alternate timeline. I've been working out the back-story a little and plotting some minor stuff but I really don't like the story as much. I think it's a really good setting and the plot is a great one (although I've only really envisioned the beginning, middle and end through thoroughly - no real structure yet).
I'm probably heading off to uni in September so will have plenty of time to write in the next 3 years. I want to ideally crank out a couple books by then. I need to get some practice in before I inevitably have to begin working a day job whilst writing, still trying to get published surviving on leftovers and staving off debt in a shoddy, cockroach ridden apartment.
What would be better? Writing what I want to write and enjoy writing or writing what I think publishers would enjoy? I just don't want to write the story I have real high hopes for until I'm certain my writing skills will do it justice, if that makes sense. Is it an unrealistic ambition even thinking this way and holding it off?
COMPLETELY unrelated question which I didn't think warranted its own thread: cliffhanger endings - yay or nay? I've an ending to a (as of now short but will be expanded upon) story with a character holding an armed grenade counting down the fuse aloud. The character counts "zero" then the book ends. E.g either his counting was shoddy, the grenade fuse was longer than expected or the grenade didn't go off. Is this a bad way to end a book?
Anyways, I have a much better, more marketable idea which is more a sci-fi/alternate timeline. I've been working out the back-story a little and plotting some minor stuff but I really don't like the story as much. I think it's a really good setting and the plot is a great one (although I've only really envisioned the beginning, middle and end through thoroughly - no real structure yet).
I'm probably heading off to uni in September so will have plenty of time to write in the next 3 years. I want to ideally crank out a couple books by then. I need to get some practice in before I inevitably have to begin working a day job whilst writing, still trying to get published surviving on leftovers and staving off debt in a shoddy, cockroach ridden apartment.
What would be better? Writing what I want to write and enjoy writing or writing what I think publishers would enjoy? I just don't want to write the story I have real high hopes for until I'm certain my writing skills will do it justice, if that makes sense. Is it an unrealistic ambition even thinking this way and holding it off?
COMPLETELY unrelated question which I didn't think warranted its own thread: cliffhanger endings - yay or nay? I've an ending to a (as of now short but will be expanded upon) story with a character holding an armed grenade counting down the fuse aloud. The character counts "zero" then the book ends. E.g either his counting was shoddy, the grenade fuse was longer than expected or the grenade didn't go off. Is this a bad way to end a book?
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