Greetings from a kinda cozy, kinda upmarket fantasy novelist

[wolfhillwoman]

Hi Everyone,

I'm happy to be here. I am currently writing a fantasy novel about a mage who'd rather be an herbalist. She's on the run from the Mage King who doesn't want her to quit working for him, and she encounters pirates and other such people on her journey. I've been having a lot of fun building the world, thinking about the characters, plotting the basic outline of the story, and writing it.

I belong to an in-person speculative fiction writers group and highly recommend in-person writers groups for those who are able.

wolfhillwoman

 

[pmmg]

Howdy Wolfhill Woman, Welcome here.

 

[wolfhillwoman]

I do write everyday. NaNoWriMo 2011 helped me break free of never finishing anything. Disagree with Goldie's 3rd rule, in part because I'm not a writer who solicits feedback every 500 words and never develops independent judgment. I take a chapter or two through a few revisions until I feel like it's good, and then solicit feedback from my group(s) and learn all the things I missed because I'm too close to it. Picking the right group is important too. You don't want a group that nitpicks a first draft into paralysis.
I believe that feedback with intention before a novel is completely done is incredibly helpful for many reasons. In my case it's helped me catch structural problems before they calcify (choices, inconsistencies, dialogue conventions not working, etc.) and then would require a huge rebuild. I also find that feedback tells me whether I'm building on solid foundations before I've sunk time into them and fall in love with my darlings. Also with a consistent writers group, feedback feels like a normal, low-stakes rhythm. I can ask the group "hey, this is what I was going for with this chapter, did I get there for you as a reader?" I feel like the way I do it optimizes for people actually finishing something good.

 

[ThinkerX]

Welcome aboard!

Several of my published novels were NaNo projects.

I have occasionally provided structural story advice to other authors here.

 

[pmmg]

Everyone is free to disagree, but if its not working and not getting done, go look at the rules.

 

[pmmg]

How many people in your writing group are writing fantasy? and how many are not?

 

[wolfhillwoman]

Welcome aboard!

Several of my published novels were NaNo projects.

I have occasionally provided structural story advice to other authors here.

Nice to meet you, ThinkerX!

 

[wolfhillwoman]

Everyone is free to disagree, but if its not working and not getting done, go look at the rules.

Huge fan of do what works!

 

[wolfhillwoman]

How many people in your writing group are writing fantasy? and how many are not?

For my speculative fiction group? Too many, lol, somewhere around 18 people. In the summer it slims down to about 10 of us. 2-3 writing SciFi, 1-2 writing horror, the rest writing fantasy. We meet bi-weekly.
For my other writers group, there are six of us, one a published fantasy author whose second book was just released (I don't think the publisher still has it....) We meet monthly.

And my third writers group has about 8 members, half of us are fantasy writers, although sometimes we bring our other non-fantasy work to that group as well. We meet bi-weekly.

I'm bringing different things to each group.

 

[pmmg]

Do you find that people who are not writing in the genre, and maybe have no interest in it, are still providing useful advice? and are they able to speak usefully to the genre?

 

[wolfhillwoman]

I do. All of us commit to reading and providing craft feedback, even if the genre isn't our thing (e.g. I'm not a huge horror fan.) Those readers tend to not comment on the world building aspects as much, but they absolutely can speak to interiority, story & character arc, etc. I think sometimes their feedback is especially good because it isn't their genre.