Malik
Auror
Also this. In fact, this above all.It's really hard, unforgiving, and the pay is crap, but writers write.
Also this. In fact, this above all.It's really hard, unforgiving, and the pay is crap, but writers write.
I like prologues...Also, NOBODY likes prologues.
If you want to feel better about your writing, read The Book of Lost Tales, which is compiled by Tolkien's son and contains some of his earliest writing. It's pretty terrible (though there are some great ideas in there). And that's coming from someone who loves Tolkien and his writing.I'd be willing to bet there was a point early in his career as a writer, when Tolkien was not that hot either.
Complete tangent, but it's still a planet to me!poor, frozen little Pluto
I do like that quote. Definitely can't see a full time career but I heard if your if your not inspired to try you never will so keep it up my friendAlso this. In fact, this above all.
There is money to be made. I sell my ebooks at $9.99 and I keep 75 points on the back end; I've moved over 25,000 copies and half of them have been full price. Paid off my Lexus in a year.I do like that quote. Definitely can't see a full time career but I heard if your if your not inspired to try you never will so keep it up my friend
There is money to be made. I sell my ebooks at $9.99 and I keep 75 points on the back end; I've moved over 25,000 copies and half of them have
been full price. Paid off my Lexus in a year.
. . . BUT . . .
Don't count on it. Individual results may vary.
I walked backwards into success, blinded, and completely by accident--I was at a local fantasy con demonstrating medieval combat and seoi-nage'd an SCA knight in full armor while wearing a sport jacket and tie. The next day, at my autograph signing, the line was literally out the door. I'd come into the signing late, having stopped to get a burger and figuring I might have two or three friends there. There were no shit over a hundred people waiting for my autograph. The local merchant had sold out of my book, and I ended up signing convention literature, pictures, even a girl's boobs.
Those reviews got me a BookBub, the Bestseller status from that got me a Publisher's Weekly review, which got me several favorable mainstream critical reviews, which led to Barnes and Noble catalog inclusion, which landed me far bigger convention appearances (WorldCon in Dublin!), foreign and audio rights deals, and so forth. I couldn't have planned it any better. There's a lot to be said for dumb luck, but YOU HAVE TO BE READY.
What I will say to every budding author is this: have people on speed-dial in case your book blows up. You have about 48 hours to capitalize on a groundswell. Find a publicist, a foreign and audio rights representative, and a good graphics person. Make their acquaintance; buy them a drink if they're local, get their bona fides, and have a few grand in reserve because you will need to pay them A LOT of money the minute shit happens. (You will get WAY more money back; this is a business and you have to spend money to make money.)
I know a lot of authors starting out don't have a lot of money but look at it this way: the average outlay for an entrepreneur in the U.S. is around $30,000 and you're expected to operate "in the red," i.e., losing money and taking out loans to cover your expenses, for the first 2-3 years. $5000 for a professionally produced novel (pro-level dev/line/copy/proof, non-AI cover, professional layout in all formats, business license, CPA, IP lawyer, plus an "emergency fund" in case everything somehow goes right and you need a publicist, graphic artist, etc.) is a steal.
He wasn't a writer. He was a linguist. He wrote the books as a way to ensconce the languages he'd created; a hell of a lot more fun to read than dictionaries in Dwarvish and Elvish. (Although it could be argued The Silmarillion is effectively that.) Tolkien was a terrible writer. Do not ape him. No one will read it.
I beg politely to disagree. First I like prologues, so even if I'm in a minority of one (again, sigh) that still negates 'nobody'.Damn. Half an hour wasted. Hey, have fun.
Also, NOBODY likes prologues. Cheers.
I agree, as I said to my son recently, after he'd waded through the Silmarillion, and asked about BoLT, there's a reason they were lost.If you want to feel better about your writing, read The Book of Lost Tales, which is compiled by Tolkien's son and contains some of his earliest writing. It's pretty terrible (though there are some great ideas in there). And that's coming from someone who loves Tolkien and his writing.
Which makes Brooks and Tolkien quite similar.I find Brooks pretty unreadable.
Opinions vary, that's for sure.Which makes Brooks and Tolkien quite similar.
It's not the prose. It's the pacing.Opinions vary, that's for sure.
In my view, Tolkien writes beautiful prose that has a gravitas that comes only from his lifelong study of language and his impeccable ear. This quality cannot be faked, or replicated by someone else.
I'd sure love to read someone's attempt at it though. As I said, I've never come across anyone even trying that before. It sure would be amusing.
I can only speak for myself, but I write for a few different reasons. My mom was also a writer and I come from a long line of Irish writers, so the second I showed any inclination for storytelling, I got to be the heir apparent. I was writing her query letters by 12. I also have hypergraphia. I write because I can't not. And also, I love it. I don't understand what people who don't write think about all day. When our characters talk to me - now granted, I'm batshit crazy - I've got a couple different options to explain it, but mostly it's our characters telling me things about themselves and their stories.I do like that quote. Definitely can't see a full time career but I heard if your if your not inspired to try you never will so keep it up my friend
5? 4? I've totally lost track. Our next series is an epic fantasy trilogy, and we're shopping the crap out of it. Nowhere smaller than the big guns. I just know too many other authors who went small press and got so screwed. It's not that small press is littered with scum bags. It's littered with writers who want to be on the other side of the desk and have absolutely no clue what they're doing. But, they talk a good game, and so do we all because we tell lies for fun and profit. But no, they don't get to try out their training wheels here. And they can't afford the sort of advance I'm looking for. The Books of Binding needs an ad budget.So true. I was NOT ready and was pretty much just having fun and kicking shit around to see what happened. Not that I've done poorly, mind you, but hindsight being 20/20, I could've blown things sky-high instead of just out of the water, LMAO.
When I eventually launch The War of Seven Lies in a couple years, it'll be with a publicist and a cash howitzer for promotion. 50/50 on whether I shop it with the Big 5.
I can't read Tolkien. I've read pretty much his entire body of academic work, because my research area butted up against his, but his prose kills me.I have zero problems with Tolkien's pacing, and LoTR is one of the only books I'd ever read again that was not written by me, heh heh.
Brooks, on the other hand, is unreadable as an adult. I can't do it. Trying destroyed all my youthful memories of SoS. Now that I think about it, even when young, he lost me after SoS. The next one or two I bothered to read sucked.
I also find Rothfuss unreadable. I tried three times and surrendered.
Oh, the list could grow long, all the way from Mordor.