Writing • Page 13

Here's a weird story I wrote

 

I've been thinking a lot about the cross-over between creative stories and marketing. There are tons of ad campaigns that use storytelling, sometimes in really interesting ways. This article breaks down the process a little and even has some examples about companies that use storytelling for marketing, like the #LikeAGirl campaign from always. What do you all think? Could you see yourself putting your storytelling skills toward a marketing project?

 

I'm not sure how many people are into YA or interested in writing YA, but I spent a few hours researching this yesterday and felt like it was a good thing to share.

I think that crowd-sourcing unbiased notes and editing is very cool. By all accounts, this can lead to a legit publishing contract with Macmillan, regardless of having an agent or not. Your work is exclusive to SR for 6 months, but honestly, you'd spend that much time waiting to hear back from most large publishers. Here's a cool article about their recently expanded scope.

I've read a couple of their published books and created an account to take a look at the manuscripts. I'm thinking about submitting my own manuscript in the far future when it's finished. If anyone happens to have experience with this, I'd love to hear about it!

 

Thanks for pointing this out. I’ll have to look more into it. I’m in the process of editing a YA fantasy ms. Having recently done the agent querying weariness for my adult contemp ms I’m burnt out on the politics of publishing already.

 

From my novel, needs a good edit. But focusing on finishing the first draft of full story before circling back again...

 

of course!! i'm really excited about the community aspect of this, it seems super cool. honestly though if it doesn't work out, i might just self-publish on amazon.

 

I have a friend currently getting ready to self-publish. Her main input on the process thus far is to not use Amazon’s cover template and to hire someone. She showed me a bunch of their templates and they’re not great. Something to keep in mind.

 

I've published three books through Createspace (Amazon). You absolutely need to design your own cover/hire somebody, their options are super limited and terrible. The publishing process is easy and the product is good, but I'm hesitant to fully recommend them after I've found out they haven't been reporting my royalties/sales correctly. It took a week and multiple emails for them to acknowledge they messed up, "fixed" my report with my confirmed sales (no apology/assurance that this is rare and won't happen again) and then just this morning I realized there is at least one more book sale unaccounted for.

So if you just want a nice physical copy of your work with the ease of selling it on Amazon, go for it. If you want to get paid for your hard work, maybe look somewhere else

 

question for people who are writers. i always wrote poems/lyrics in high school and beyond but ive been looking to expanding into novel writing for awhile now. any suggestions on getting started and organizing my story idea?

 

When starting a longer project, I typically try to just jump right into writing. Even if it's not the very first scene, I find beginning with writing to award me a better sense of the tone and overall direction of the story. It also allows me to find a comfortable perspective without thinking too much about it, and once I feel I have a grasp on an idea, I decide where I want to go from there.

 

Considering releasing my short story across multiple social media accounts or solely through Twitter.

 

DO IT

 

;)

 

Does anyone use Scrivener?

 

I think I like it in theory but would hate it in actual usage.

One of my close friends swears by it, though.

 

I financed an iPad through my phone plan so I could write in earnest. I'm currently using the Apple Pages app, which I like a lot. I'm wondering if anyone is familiar with using their templates at all? For now I'm just using a blank document, but I noticed they have a "novel" template, but it's not super intuitive to figure out and I can't seem to find a guide online.

On another note, I finished my first two chapters last week and it felt really great!!

 

I would say just do a minimal format in pages and then actually take the time to format once finished and in Word/.doc (industry standard).

I write all my drafts in double space/TNR/12pts because I’ve seen that’s not how agents and editors want them/English degree holdover. While drafting, clean and uncluttered—I think—is great for just getting the words on the page.

My friend is currently working on publishing and she says the first page of each chapter should start halfway down a page but I’m not sure why/where she found that out. I do mine two lines down. Uniformity/cleanliness in the drafting stage really is where I find peace haha.

Congrats on getting those first chapters down! Keep the excitement and it remains a blast.

 

My second novel is currently with my main beta because I’m having that panic “my book sucks” moment and she’s pretty good at getting me back on track and highlighting good revision parts.

I’m trying to figure out how to rewrite my first one after 86 agents rejected it.

I’ve also got a third novel (that’s related to the first) I’m flirting with starting. I’ve written a scene.

And then I have two other ideas floating around in there that I want to start with.

It’s weird, writing is 100% what I want to do and pursue. But I’m also 100% insecure and convinced that I’m the worst at it.

 

I think we all feel that way, haha. I kind of forgot it was really what I wanted to do for awhile, so it's nice to be back in it. I read a really great blog the other day where the gist was basically "100 people might say no, but it only takes one yes to make it happen" which I thought was a nicer way of looking at it in the face of constant rejection.

Can I ask what genre/etc you're working in?

 

I feel like no one really writes for the “post-YA but actually the real life young adult” crowd, @kaylasananjou so my first novel was about seniors in college (I only ever see freshman). The related (third) novel is about a sibling of one of those characters trapped in retail. #writewhatyouknow

My second novel is a straight up YA fantasy. Ending human trafficking is a big passion of mine so I wanted to write a fantasy novel that drew eyes to the need for ending it in our modern world.

My fourth and fifth ideas are both spec sci-fi (but light on the science) fiction in that twenty-somethings in the world grey area.

 

that is so cool. I want to branch out into multiple genres at some point but it's super intimidating. what I'm working on now is on the line between YA and new adult imo.

 

That line is so thin, but such a worthwhile place. I hate that “new adult” got co-opted into tattoos and sex books and not just actual new adult stories. It’s the place I feel most comfortable writing, probably because that’s where I am in life.

Have you read “American Panda” by Gloria Chao (I may be wrong on the last name) or “Fangirl” by Rainbow Rowell? They’re pretty popular ones riding that age-line. I’ve read the first and have had the second on my list forever.

 

Submitted a short story to a few places. We'll see what happens (probably nothing, needs a good edit). Novel continues to break me, put I push on.

 

I've had both of these on my list forever as well, haha. I'll have to finally read them- I'm trying to absorb as much of that literature as possible right now since before this I was pretty much exclusively reading horror/fantasy and that is nottt the vibe I am going for at all.

Definitely agree about NA- I think so many early-20s adults continue to read teen fiction just because it feels like you have to go from teen fiction to like, house wife fiction sometimes. There just isn't a ~relatable market of books for us.

 

Yeah. I broke 80 books last year just trying to pour words in. Devoured a bunch of YA fantasy around writing mine just to see we what’s selling and “working,” but drawing in influence from random genres really helped me feel fresh.

Agreed 100%. And I think fantasy and other genres do a good job of providing characters in that age range, but the contemporary, real-life stuff just isn’t there.