Writing novels...

[darkspark]

I just have to ask this, I have no idea if it's in the right place or not... only place i could really think of to put it.

All the writers out there: do you write every novel/story intending to publish it??
i'm working on my pet novel (the one i love the most), and several friends were driving me crazy by asking "why would you write a novel and not publish it?!" I kinda think it's just for fun. like painting or something.
weird question, i know, but i just wanted to know if there were others out there that do this, or if i'm just completely insane.

[krescentwolf]

I think that really depends on the writer. Ive had my 'pet' novel in the works for over 4 or 5 years now. Since I started it, it transformed from a scifi novella to a multibook high fantasy style story.

Do any of those friends of yours also write novels? They don't sound like it. At least from my pov they sound like 'Hey! when ya gonna finish and make some cash off that?' And I seriously believe thats not what writing is about. You write because you want to. Sometimes its to share your story, whatever that may be, with the world, other times its just to get it down on paper with the satisfaction of 'fin' written at the end.

Will I ever publish my novels, probably. Am I pushed by the urge to publish it? No. Im writing my vision, publishing.... and the resulting effects of publishing are really just a bonus IMO.

[darkspark]

I think that really depends on the writer. Ive had my 'pet' novel in the works for over 4 or 5 years now. Since I started it, it transformed from a scifi novella to a multibook high fantasy style story.

Do any of those friends of yours also write novels? They don't sound like it. At least from my pov they sound like 'Hey! when ya gonna finish and make some cash off that?' And I seriously believe thats not what writing is about. You write because you want to. Sometimes its to share your story, whatever that may be, with the world, other times its just to get it down on paper with the satisfaction of 'fin' written at the end.

Will I ever publish my novels, probably. Am I pushed by the urge to publish it? No. Im writing my vision, publishing.... and the resulting effects of publishing are really just a bonus IMO.


yay, someone replied!!! (i'd given up on this one -_-)

ya, the one writes. mainly short stories, though, and, yes, with the intention of publishing it. there's been some... odd... ones, but for the most part she's a decent writer.

cool to know that there is at least one other person out there that does so ^_^ thank you!!!
and, ya, pet novels tend to change psychotically ^_^ (btw, my pet novel? it's past 5000 pages ^_^ had to put that in there, just to say "yay!!!")

[neko-sennin]

Hi. New guy here.

I've written a couple books, none published, and one thing I've discovered is that those who don't pursue some kind of creative passions of their own seldom do understand such things.

I wrote an entire novel, a cheesy action-adventure story, when I was in high school, though it was so gawdawful it will never saw the light of day. In college, I wrote the Book of Hondo, which I've posted on three or four different message boards over the past couple years.

Over the past four years, I've been reworking something I originally started writing when I was in high school, a much larger and more ambitious series, and I still haven't made up my mind if I want to pursue traditional publishing. The conclusion I've reached is that it, if it satisfies something inside of you, you'll be driven to keep doing it, whether or not you make any money, nor if anyone ever reads/hears/sees it in your lifetime. Talent and vision, regardless of scale, are an adiction, they cry out to be used. That is my experience, anyway.

[Master Scorpion]

yea once, and the editor refused to publish it ...

[neko-sennin]

Don't give up, Eel. As I pointed out to someone else earlier, when Stephen King started trying to publish his books, he got so many rejection slips he needed a railroad spike to pin them all up. Everybody starts somewhere.

http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b180/scoot_the_koan/osaka_power_v2_01.jpg

[darkspark]

yea once, and the editor refused to publish it ...

do you know how many famous, bestselling authors had their books refused countless times? good luck with it! (some of them are like, 97, 74, 109 times... their determination is kind of inspiring o_O)
hope to hear back soon that you got it published ^_~

[Master Scorpion]

Thank you for the support DarkSpark :glomp I will try my best.. and thanks too for NekoSennin :crying I love both of youuuu....

[Dionysus]

No. I don't care to have my work published. This is why I write on my time off. If my hobby makes one happy, more's the good.

[neko-sennin]

Oh, and I have one more recommendation to make. I'm trying not to sound like an advertisement, but I think it will be really helpful:

If you're seriously taking up writing, I'd recommend Stephen King's On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft. No, it's not about writing horror; it's about writing fiction in general, and it's the single most helpful book I've ever read on the subject. Infinitely more useful than all the other books I've read about writing all put together. I read it every once in a while, and I always find new insights into how to approach my writing.

That, and it's a really fun read, not your usual scholarly treatise on how writing can be fun while being as dry and boring as possible in at least one hundred words.

http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b180/scoot_the_koan/osaka_power_v2_01.jpg

[Amnesia]

I'd love to write a novel. In fact, I'd not only love to write a novel and publish it, I'd also love for other people to like it as well. But I'm still at square one currently. =( Just have to write...

[Cardboard Tube Knight]

I just have to ask this, I have no idea if it's in the right place or not... only place i could really think of to put it.

All the writers out there: do you write every novel/story intending to publish it??
i'm working on my pet novel (the one i love the most), and several friends were driving me crazy by asking "why would you write a novel and not publish it?!" I kinda think it's just for fun. like painting or something.
weird question, i know, but i just wanted to know if there were others out there that do this, or if i'm just completely insane.

Actually I am working on this now and I have to do one for my class too, but I need to work on polishing my writing. I do write stuff I know I can't publish but its more like exercise to keep me in shape and get me stronger. Its not normally just for kicks.

[Chiyo]

No. The novel I'm currently working on isn't something I expect to publish. It's my first and at the moment, it's certainly not good enough. Maybe when I've been through the edit, I'll think about it. If I am happy with it at the end, I think it's worth a shot. I'm not writing it with a view to publishing it though.

I'm writing it for my own enjoyment, because I love to write and I love my characters, to share with others close to me, and also to improve my skill, because sometime in the future I would love to be published.

[Trunkten]

Personally, I only write as a form of creative release; a chance to give a form to some of my ideas and get them down on paper. It's a pleasure thing, I've never even considered doing it with the goal of publication.

It's purely hypothetical, as I'd never have the commitment, focus or desire to write anything of great length, but I doubt I'd ever try and get any of my own writing published anyway; it all reads like rubbish to me, and I can never see that anyone would particularly want to read my writing.