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Post by Suzy on Jun 15, 2018 6:49:53 GMT -5
Hello, all! I found this forum via a Google search for a writing-related topic. There were some really insightful posts here, so I thought this might be a good place to learn. A little about me: I'm a lawyer with a couple of published stories, another one in the pipeline, a blog with reviews of technically interesting short stories, and several novels completed or nearly completed that I'm gradually editing into acceptability. Hi and welcome! We are very happy to see new members. Could you tell us a bit more about your novels? Which genre are they in?
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Post by Pru Freda on Jun 15, 2018 8:01:56 GMT -5
Hello there, Quinn Inuit, and welcome. Looking forward to getting to know you.
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Post by quinning on Jun 15, 2018 8:55:04 GMT -5
Hey Quinn! I'm Quinn!
Good to see you here and look forward to hearing more!
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Post by Victoria on Jun 15, 2018 10:39:13 GMT -5
Welcome aboard!
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Post by djmills on Jun 15, 2018 14:00:39 GMT -5
Welcome. Waving hello from Australia. :-)
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Post by Miss Terri Novelle on Jun 15, 2018 16:38:42 GMT -5
Welcome!
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Post by ameliasmith on Jun 15, 2018 16:45:06 GMT -5
Hello and welcome!
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Post by Quinn Inuit on Jun 15, 2018 23:13:38 GMT -5
Thank you all for the warm welcome! I need to start following you all on Twitter and such. Quinning, it's nice to see another Quinn out there. I'll endeavor not to bring any shame to the name. Any more shame, anyway. There are still some zombies mad that I didn't give them a concert.
Here are the novels I'm working on: A Disregarded Magic - YA Fantasy - The first novel I ever wrote...and boy does it show. The first draft was 190k. I cut it down to 100k , and now I'm about 75% done with a heavy rewrite. I think it'll finally be decent soon.
The Flight of the Swan - YA Soft-ish Sci-fi - I finished about two and a half books of the planned trilogy before I realized that book 1 had huge problems. The first half has been fixed, but I haven't worked out how to fix the second half yet. 25,000 words of lesson planning and classroom instruction (mostly in etiquette and geometry) was possibly not the best idea I've ever had, but it was fun to write. That probably just means I need to get out more.
A Rising Against the Night - YA Soft-ish Sci-fi - This started out as a novelette, but I loved the characters too much to stop writing. I just need to fix a weak spot in the outline and I think it'll be good to go as my next project.
The Last Greenwitch - YA Soft-ish Sci-fi - I got about 80k into this one before realizing that the setting was too generic, so I need to do a few rewrites there. It's probably going to end up as a pair of books functioning as a sequel to the previous one.
What kinds of fiction do you all write?
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Post by ameliasmith on Jun 16, 2018 9:50:18 GMT -5
I write mostly fantasy and some historical romance. I may branch out into other genres at some point.
I see from your website that you do martial arts. What kind? I used to practice aikido. I am no longer sure that I'll eventually get back to it, though.
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Post by Quinn Inuit on Jun 16, 2018 11:41:27 GMT -5
I write mostly fantasy and some historical romance. I may branch out into other genres at some point. I see from your website that you do martial arts. What kind? I used to practice aikido. I am no longer sure that I'll eventually get back to it, though. That's cool. I think there's a fine line between historical fiction and fantasy in many cases. Do you find operating within the constraints of "real history" challenging in a fun way or an annoying way? I've done a bit of aikido, myself, though it was a poor fit for me in the end. My wife and I met doing Hapkido in college, and we both have 1st Dan black belts. Since then, I've done a bit of Kung Fu and Wing Chun, and for the last eight years I've been doing Lightning Arnis Filipino stick fighting. It's a lot of fun.
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Post by Suzy on Jun 16, 2018 13:39:55 GMT -5
I write chick-lit, aka romantic comedy that my publisher puts into the women's fiction/humour category. There is a lot more in there than just comedy though. All my heroines have interesting back stories that are full of hardships that they are trying to overcome in one way or another.
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Post by Quinn Inuit on Jun 16, 2018 15:10:34 GMT -5
I write chick-lit, aka romantic comedy that my publisher puts into the women's fiction/humour category. There is a lot more in there than just comedy though. All my heroines have interesting back stories that are full of hardships that they are trying to overcome in one way or another. I think that makes the humor sharper and tenser, too. My personal goal, one that I know I don't reach but that I try for anyway, is to make each and every conversation the equivalent of a beautiful waltz done through a minefield. Each character only knows where the emotional mines are that (s)he placed and is always trying to dance around them. The reader only knows that there are mines, but is drawn into the dance trying to guess where they are by the way each character moves. You, the author, know where they all are, and you make sure that every now and then, as your characters have what they think is going to be an ordinary conversation...BOOM.
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Post by Suzy on Jun 16, 2018 15:16:11 GMT -5
That's a lovely image!
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Post by djmills on Jun 16, 2018 15:22:46 GMT -5
I write what I think is SciFi (other worlds), Fantasy and a few Cozy Mysteries. However, I am not sure I have the correct categories, because I thought I was writing an adventure for the last Cozy Mystery, but the best fit seemed to be Amateur Sleuth. :-)
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Post by Quinn Inuit on Jun 16, 2018 20:44:18 GMT -5
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Post by Quinn Inuit on Jun 16, 2018 20:46:29 GMT -5
I write what I think is SciFi (other worlds), Fantasy and a few Cozy Mysteries. However, I am not sure I have the correct categories, because I thought I was writing an adventure for the last Cozy Mystery, but the best fit seemed to be Amateur Sleuth. :-) The line between SF and Fantasy is pretty thin. I think the best delineation I've ever heard is, "In Fantasy, the dragons can hover." What genre do you think yours are in?
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Post by ameliasmith on Jun 17, 2018 7:28:39 GMT -5
I find writing historical fiction easier than fantasy, in terms of the amount of work that goes into the world-building. For me, it's easier to look things up as needed for a world I already know something about than it is to make up a whole system and make sure it's believable and consistent, but some stories just fit better in a fantasy setting than in a historical one. The genres can be pretty similar in other ways, though.
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Post by elephantsbookshelf on Jun 17, 2018 8:36:59 GMT -5
Welcome Quinn. I'm tend to stop by only a couple Sundays a month.
I write in a variety of genres, though currently I'm writing for the younger set -- 9-12 year olds, perhaps a little younger than that. My published fiction is family saga/relationship related and all in short stories at the moment, though I've reopened the trunk on a novel that I'm aiming to get set for publication in 2019, either to seek representation or to go through my publishing company, Elephant's Bookshelf Press.
Again, welcome. It's a really good group here. I should visit more.
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Post by Quinn Inuit on Jun 17, 2018 16:57:35 GMT -5
I find writing historical fiction easier than fantasy, in terms of the amount of work that goes into the world-building. For me, it's easier to look things up as needed for a world I already know something about than it is to make up a whole system and make sure it's believable and consistent, but some stories just fit better in a fantasy setting than in a historical one. The genres can be pretty similar in other ways, though. I see. So you let history do the work of world-building for you. Do you have any time periods you know particularly well?
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Post by Quinn Inuit on Jun 17, 2018 16:59:19 GMT -5
Welcome Quinn. I'm tend to stop by only a couple Sundays a month. I write in a variety of genres, though currently I'm writing for the younger set -- 9-12 year olds, perhaps a little younger than that. My published fiction is family saga/relationship related and all in short stories at the moment, though I've reopened the trunk on a novel that I'm aiming to get set for publication in 2019, either to seek representation or to go through my publishing company, Elephant's Bookshelf Press. Again, welcome. It's a really good group here. I should visit more. Thanks for the welcome! Good luck with the novel.
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