State of the Writer, August 2015 · 11:53pm Aug 31st, 2015
Monthly reminder that you can vote on what you'd like to see me write. I'll actually start using this once I'm done with current projects, as a guide for things to release.
Monthly reminder about muh patreons.
And on that note, I've actually started seriously looking back into job postings. Don't congratulate me or wish me luck, it's not a good thing. It's just what has to be done.
On that note, I continue to be fundamentally let down by how little editing work I've pulled in. I mean, I shouldn't complain, I haven't really made an effort to expand beyond my followers, but if you ever wonder why I talk about feeling useless or worthless, well, there's one reason.
On the writing front, I'm pleased by the response I Taco You, Valentine! has gotten. People seem to enjoy it, and I like it when people enjoy the things I enjoy. :)
The next chapter of Epic Unicorn History is coming along well. I'm getting shaky knees, though, from the thought of "is this one worth waiting for?" I always planned it to be one of the shorter chapters; there's not much I can do to get around that. I just hope no one feels let down, having to wait nine months for it. D: I really, really do plan on getting it out next month, I'm sorry I don't have anything better to report.
I'm considering abandoning that one shipfic I'm being coy about. I think I may at the very least put it off in favor of EUH and EoA, and if it gets canon screwed, oh well. My heart's just not in it. I've also considered paring it down from the lengthy, full-justified romance to something like maybe just some letters exploring the core concept that made me think of it in the first place. We'll see.
I don't know if I ever blogged about it, but The A.K. Yearling Society for Original Writing has got me slowly gearing up to try getting back into original fiction. (I'm kicking around some superhero characters I created recently, but finding stories to tell about them is hard.) To that end, though, I need to get back into reading fiction, because I haven't done that, Dresden Files aside, in quite a long time. Unfortunately, I went to the library today to find something, and they had nothing in the way of contemporary short story collections. Anyone have any ideas for me? :B I should probably ask this in one of my rec blogs if I want people to answer it...
Oh yeah, and I'm planning a Steven Universe fic. It's gonna be great. :V
AK Yearling Society's a private group. What's the elevator pitch for it and who do we talk to if we're interested?
3361366
Ohyeah, uh, ask bookplayer. :B It's not like, secret-private or anything.
I think. D:
What do you mean? Like, getting people to pay you for editing work?
I suspect part of it is just general tit-for-tat, really - I ask people to edit stuff for me, and I offer to edit stuff for them in turn.
Recommendations? Fiction? BOOKS
What do you normally read? What sorts of things?
3361678
I'm looking for collections of award-winning fiction, ideally. Otherwise, just anything from the last five years or so that's by different authors. I don't think I'd look outside general fiction, fantasy and sci-fi.
Sorry about the editing work. I keep thinking about giving you money to look at some of my stuff, then I get all panicky about having someone look at my stuff and end up not doing it. Which doesn't help you all that much I admit. Just wanted to say that it's not you causing it, so you shouldn't feel worthless. Which we all know is helpful, applying logic to those feelings.
3361704 might I suggest King's Everything's Eventual or All Dark, No Stars?
When people are looking for short fiction I have to do this so gomen. Faulkner. William friggin' Faulkner is The Lord and Master of the short story. "The Bear" is part ofGo Down, Moses but is often anthologies. As is "A Rosr For Emily" which is rather macabre
3361704
Ray Bradbury everything. Shirley Jackson everything. =O
I have an in-progress project earmarked for PP editing, I swear!
It's just buried under tons of other stuff
3361366
https://www.fimfiction.net/blog/530458/new-group-invite-only-the-ak-yearling-society-for-original-writing
I was being serious about hooking you up with my fic. You're good people and I want to help you out. But that was before my other editors convinced me that the narrator is fundamentally flawed to the point that I threw out 11k words, and then today I proceeded to get stuck at the office for.... *checks watch* 15 hours and counting. At this point, can I just pay you to go Dr. Kevorkian on my ass?
3361729
I'm really going for contemporary, and as many authors as possible, rather than collections by one author. But that seems to be more common. :/
3361968
Only if it will let me absorb your powers, Highlander-style.
3362436 yeah, multiple author is going to be kinda difficult. I have seen steampunk-themed anthologies popping up at Barnes and Nobles
I'm still good to go on the pay-what-you-want[1] scheme for chapters of my non-pony book, if you're interested.
As for contemporary short fiction, if you're interested in fantasy, scifi, or horror, there are a some weekly podcasts that you might find interesting: Podcastle, Escape Pod, and Pseudopod.
--------------------------
[1] It will be more than you were charging, I guarantee.
3361968
Thanks!
3362762
Yeah, actually you're still in my queue, I need to get to those. @_@ I'm kind of torn in multiple directions of priorities right now.
...have you ever heard of Worm, by Wildbow?
3375112
nop :B what is it?
3375121
A very successful (towards the end, it got >250k views) web serial - i.e., the author would put up a new chapter every 2-4 days.
It hasn't been published yet, but while it was running, the author made a decent living through donations and Patreon (and still does, as a matter of fact, although now he's also writing different stuff while editing Worm for publishing).
It's in the superhero genre: the main character is a teenage girl who starts out as a supervillain, and the world building gradually sucks one in.
It can be found here.
Word of warning though: it's looong. Then again, most arcs count as nearly self-contained units, so you can stop writing once you've learned what you need.
3375274
Oh geez, that is long. D: That's longer than my whole list of audiobooks currently! And that's terrible. ;_;
3375296
It's also in Audiobook format* though! :-P
And considering your priorities I don't even know if I'd want to read it all. I would, however, want to learn as much as I can from it.
For example, Wildbow is deeply in love with TvTropes...as a marketing tool.
And see those little "webfiction guide" "topwebfiction", etc links? Stuff like that.
Plus, there's other stuff in story. For example, the Endbringers are mentioned once or twice offhandedly as stupidly powerful forces of nature. And when Leviathan shows up, in the span of three chapters he kills a third of the known superheroes & villains, plus a whole bunch from out of town, and cripples the town completely with a couple of tidal waves. And what's more, things don't magically get better. The town being a complete wreck keeps being a thing in the future.
*on itunes or youtube